Starlight, Star Bright
by MYSTERY READER the original
Summary: "I'm Aerrow leader of the Storm Hawks and this is my Squadron:Piper, 'Navigation and tactics', Finn 'Chicka-cha...', Junko 'Uh...', Stork 'We're doomed.', and my co-pilot Radarr '*Squawk*'. Our mission, protect Atmos from the talons of Cyclonia. And for us, the sky is never the limit!" (fly high, flip this guy, all up in the fly!, fly!) at least what I think the lyrics are. AXP mor
1. Chapter 1 Daydream

**This is for the love of the STORM HAWKS that is still alive, a thank you for NerdCorps and for the STORM HAWKS RESERVE TEAM a.k.a the fans. Fight Cyclonia!**

**Disclaimer: Everything and anything that is recognizable belongs to the source.**

Chapter one

Life sucks and then you die. I knew that but somebody had to write it out. I knew that but I had to believe that one person could make a difference. Specifically me, I'm completely useless. But I wouldn't be _completely_ useless if I was a Sky Knight, better yet, a **Storm Hawk**...Heh, I'd put my life on the line for the Storm Hawks and for Atmos, no questions asked.

ZZZzzz...

"Ungh..." I rolled onto my back but I wasn't anymore comfortable than I was on my side. There were rocks everywhere. _Rocks..._

I opened my eyes, easy, like I never fell asleep. I tried to make everything make sense. Hard because I was facing a bright blue sky.

"That can't be right..." I sat up, affirming that I was indeed in my skinny sweats and royal blue long sleeve, then in front of me. I was facing a road that disappeared around the bend. The trees that were blocking it from sight were..._animated._.._No freaking way._..! I turned to the sounds of jets. Behind me was the _Condor_ preparing to land. I dove into the bushes to get out of the way. The door to the Air Skimmer bay and repair area opened and out they came on their rides.

"Last one to the plaza does the dishes for a month!" Cried out Finn

"Yeaha!"

"Wooohoo!" They cried. _Yes way...Should I go on the Condor or follow them? Condor or them, Condor or them?...Stork is too paranoid, I'll give him a heart attack..._They had already disappeared around the bend. They were a good distance in front of me so I ran to follow them into town. It wasn't an easy feat, I was barefoot. I lost them after a while, the jets on their skimmers and heliscooter made them faster. Good thing the dry road didn't have any forks.

After some time, I made it to the out skirts of town. _Where was I? More importantly, which part of the plot was I in?_ I was looking at everything that I didn't notice tat some people were looking at me. _I need new clothes...and shoes..._I began to walk behind the stands and carts that people were buying and selling at, so that I could see and steal what I needed better. My ears heard a man bargaining with a customer trying to make a sale. The shoes weren't even going to fit the little girl. A pair of knee-high boots caught my eye. _They might fit..._I took advantage of the situation and took them. I put them on so people thought I had them all along. _God, I'm so sorry..._A little farther down was an old woman selling her clothes that were still in pretty good shape. _Shirt and pants...and socks..._A long sleeve shirt and shorts both a shade of blue, as were the socks were there for the taking. I only had one shot. I lunged, my left hand pulled the socks from the clips and my right grabbed the top and bottoms in a tight grip.

"Hey, you little shlacker!" I heard the old woman yell.

"Sorry!" I was glad it was so loud, no one hear her yell at for screaming. I looked like a girl in a rush to get home after 'buying' some clothes. I dove into an alley and changed there. Hopefully no one had to take in their laundry from the drying rack right now. The clothes were a bit of a snug fit but for swiping them on the fly, I did pretty great. I tied my shirt around the sweats and carried the little package by the sleeves. _Where are they? I couldn't have taken long..._I looked around for anything that could give me and I idea of where I was. I decided to stop and old man taking a stroll,

"Excuse me?"

"Eh, what?!" _Great, he's hard of hearing..._

"Where is the plaza!"

"Down that street,"

"Thank you!"

"Mmmeh..." I ran in the direction he pointed. I was the rides, I recognized the Sky Knight Council building and the Beacon Tower. _Atmosia!_ I slowed to a walk and took in the sight before me. People seemed to be waiting to find out why the Storm Hawks were here, or maybe just see them. Maybe they were in the S.K.C. building. I decided to move closer to the skimmers so that when the Storm Hawks came out, the didn't think I was just one of the crowed. The people who were idling immediately took notice.

"Who's that?" "mmMMmm" "Is she a sky knight too?"

"Is she a Storm Hawk?" "She's about the same age..." _Heh, I'm not fourteen, I wish..._

"Come one Piper, we deserve a break!"

"Finn, I agree with Piper, we should stay on guard," They didn't come from the S.K.C. building but the other street, next to the little triangular piece of shrub that separated the two roads, carrying groceries.

"Hey, who's that?" Asked Junko. "*Sqwuack*"

"Hi," Piper greeted. "Do you need help?" Asked Aerrow. Always at the ready to help someone.

"Yes but it's something of a delicate subject. Could we talk somewhere else?" I nodded towards the increasing crowd.

"Sure, we can talk at the Condor, Storm Hawks," He mounted his skimmer, and the others followed.

"Don't even think about it Finn, she's riding with me,"

"That's cool, alright..."

"Thanks Piper," I told her, as I mounted her heliscooter. Having my legs open like that was little uncomfortable. The seat was wider than that of a bike.

"No problem, hold on tight!" We sped off and took flight. I felt like I barely weighed a thing. Surprisingly, the sound of the spinning blades wasn't very loud.

"Ah!" I gasped. "This is incredible!"

"Ever ridden a heliscooter?" She asked. "No but it's more incredible than I imagined!" I was always scared of heights but if the ground wasn't too far I could jump. But looking down I wasn't scared. I wasn't moving around in my seat and I felt secure only holding onto Piper. It wasn't scary when the heliscooter moved too much forward when she sped up. This is gonna be fun.

**AN: Let's go reserve team! This will follow the plot we all know from where we'll soon discover where in the plot we are on. I will write past the part where we go after Cycloniss to the far side. Way past. Also I only watched twelve of the fifty four episodes, (not in order) and I thought that it would make this story interesting if this person was just as clueless. Please just read and make your own assumptions before asking questions you'll get answers to in the future. Pretend that this is happening in real time.**


	2. Chapter 2 Lunch time!

**This chapter is dedicated to THE RESISTANCE (Terra Wallop, Gale, and us the fans who refuse to accept the unfinished end of the STORM HAWKS in episode fifty-four.)  
**

Chapter two

I looked down to see the buildings whiz by and the trees blur, but the carefree banter of the squadron caught my full attention. We were currently racing against each other to the Condor. I was grinning, having a silent fangirl moment before having to play it cool from now on. Aerrow flipped around to throw us off.

"I don't know how he does that." grumbled Finn. Piper chuckled.

"He's Aerrow." I said as if that were explanation enough. Piper sped up with Finn on our tail and Junko hanging back beside him. The sound of the wheels screeching when we landed on the Air Skimmer bay and repair area was deafening but gratifying.

"Finn and Junko, you know the drill," He said.

"Yeah, yeah all of the dishes for a month..." Finn relented "Yeah!" _Junko, I don't think that's something to be happy about..._

"Let's talk at the bow so Stork can get into the conversation." We silently followed him up a flight of stairs into the bow where Stork was keeping surveillance using the sixty foot periscopes.

"Stork report,"

"Nothing since you guys left me on my own...uhm, who is _that_?" Radarr hopped on top of me and was sniffing my face.

"Radarr! Uh, this is...hehe we didn't get your name," He said sheepishly.

I thought a lot about it. I was like Piper and Cycloniss; a lonely girl desperate for a friend. But I couldn't come up with a nice sounding name combining the two. I was like Starling too; I had no home, no friends, no family, and I refused to admit I had a problem and get help from others. Instead I did everything the only way I knew how; on my own. Deciding I was mostly like Starling, I decided on a name close to it.

"Starlight. So do I pass the trustworthy-scent test Radarr?"

"*Squawk*" I chuckled.

"So what did you need to tell us?" Asked Piper.

"Um...a while ago I woke up in the middle of nowhere with no memory. A nice old man found me and since I didn't know what my name was he named me Starlight after the starry night sky."_ I'm such a fudger..._

"As you can tell, I never gained my memory. I found out out all about the war against Cyclonia and I wanted, I still do, to protect Atmos. When you guys came into town, I figured who could be a better teacher than you Aerrow," Aerrow turned pink and scratched the back of his head.

"Well..."

"I was also hoping that you could teach me Sky Fu or everything you know about crystals Piper,"

"Sure! It'll be nice to have another girl on the Condor!"

"Then it's settled," said Aerrow.

"You'll train me?!" I said, shifting my gaze between them.

"Yeah it'll be fun,"

"I can't wait to show you my room!"

"Me neither, I heard that you're one of the greatest Crystal Mages, self taught at that!"

"Oh that's not all I can do. I can do recon, navigate, I make the plans, which one has yet to be followed by the letter..."

Finn chuckled.

"I think we're gonna have fun."

"This is great and all but," Stork started "How do we know you're not Cycloniss's spy?..."

Pipers face faltered and the others became worried.

"Hey I passed Radarr's test didn't I?!"

"I..."

"Aerrow...I swear on the freedom of Atmos that I am not a spy. I'd never hurt anyone, I'd never hurt a fly!"

"Aerrow, maybe she's telling the truth. Give'r a chance..." Pleaded Junko. I put my right hand over my heart.

"I swear." Aerrow looked at everyone to make sure they all agreed.

"If everyone's okay with then so am I-"

"If you mess with my ship-"

"You're more than welcome to push me off of it." I offered.

"Welcome to the Condor! Hey, did you get what I asked?"

"Right here buddy," said Finn.

"It's for a repellent I'm working on..."

"Starlight, I'm sorry about Stork and Raddar,"

"No worries, I know Merbs so I'm not surprised and Radarr was just making sure it was safe. Animals are sensitive to that sort of thing."

Junko's stomach gave a loud growl.

"I guess it's lunch time..."

"Let me take care of that!"

"No, we couldn't-"

"Come on, when was the last time you guys had a home cooked meal?" I was met with face expressions of them trying to count the days since their last time.

"And besides, it's the least I can do when you guys are giving me a place to stay and a mission."

"I say hell yeah! It's been way to long!"

"Then I'll get right to it!"

"At least let us help you bring the bags in," Insisted Aerrow.

"Of course but after that, it's all up to me."

"Finn, you should help too," Piper ordered.

"My pleasure..." But he said it close to my ear in a low voice.

"Never mind, I'll help!"

"No I _insist,_"

"_I_ insist," They had a little stare off.

"You guys, you know I have a deep stomach..."

"Let's all go, I don't want Junko to starve."

Aerrow, Finn, Piper and I, along with Radarr who tagged along, went back to the bay area to get the groceries they picked up from Atmosia. So we were past the point in the plot that Cycloniss was here as Lark...That was the sixth episode. It narrowed it down a little but there was still so much...

Finn stuggled with the bags he collected from his and Junko's skimmer. I stood by Piper's heliscooter as Piper got her share out and put some in my arms. I watched Aerrow as he easily pulled the sacks over his shoulder and smiled at me. I has to smile at so domestic he looked.

"Can you handle another bag?" Asked Piper.

"Yeah, sure." I answered. We filed out, Radarr hitching a ride on my pile.

"Wanna help Radarr?" He nodded eagerly. "*Squawk*"

**AN: So...so far so good? I don't know how I'm doing in the writing-like-the-characters-talk-successfully-maintaining-the-personlities-we-all-know-and-love department but I promise I am trying me best to get it as authentic as posssible. This is the feel that I got from the small number of episodes I was able to watch. I hope you're getting the same feel as when you watch the shows. If you have any advice you want to offer or dialogue you wish they said in the shows, you know where to write it down.**


	3. Chapter 3 Part one Information Flow

**For the WALLOP RESISTANCE, better late than never.**

Chapter Three Part One  


We filed out of the bay and into the kitchen, that was on the right side of the Condor.

"Uh...I hope you have everything you need in here," said Aerrow.

"Don't worry about it. If you don't, I can wing it." I reassured while Finn dropped everything in his arms onto the table and had to run to the other side to catch the potatoes that were rolling away.

"Ahhah..."

"Go and do what you do." I told him. He saluted me, his right hand, thumb tucked in, on his forehead and down.

"Later," waved Finn. I saluted back, albeit awkwardly.

"Well Radarr, let's see what we have to work with!" I said, rubbing my hands together.

I put the milk, which was in a glass jar, and cheese into the fridge that was empty except for one already made sandwich and a bottle of Junko's favorite juice.

"Have you all been starving Radarr?" He shrugged and ran over, hopped onto a blue jar. _Piper's sand cakes?_

"What's that?" He opened it with one of his feet and pulled one out with his other hand. Piper's sand cakes looked like a square shaped scone. Plump on top and flat on the bottom. He took a bite happily, and reached down to get me one. Throw me one. _Uh geez..._ But I managed to catch it.

"Thanks!" There weren't any dried fruit or chocolate chips in it but I took one bite and I was instantly in love with it's simplicity.

"Oh my goodness! This is the best, no wonder you didn't starve!"

I put mine on to the stove, "Radarr, don't spoil your dinner okay?"

I put away the dry stuff, bread, oats, pasta, and the canned goods into the cupboards leaving the produce on the table. I put them on one side, the lasted longer outside the refrigerator and saw that I had the ingredients for pasta and garlic bread. _This is gonna be great!_

I filled a pot with water and put it on the back burner that I turned on. Next, I washed the tomatoes, Sprinkling garlic, salt, and black pepper on it to season, and put them in a smaller pot but just as deep as the pasta pot. Not what I would use but instead of transferring the pasta into the sauce, I'll do the reverse. While I waited for the pasta to be softer than al dente, and the tomatoes to burst, I moved to slice the bread and toasted it on a sheet a metal that Piper must use to bake. I stirred, stirred, and flipped, taking bites of Piper's cake, before turning everything off.

"Hey Radarr, try this," I held out a wooden spoon with the sauce I made.

"*Squawk*" And gave me two thumbs up.

"Perfect!"

I quickly buttered, and sprinkled it with garlic so that it was warm enough for the cheese cloth I laid on top could trap it to keep it warm. I drained the pasta pot, leaving some pasta water there so that the sauce stuck itself on it and was absorbed. I mounted it on the cart, in a corner of the kitchen, as well as the bread basket, pitcher of water, the utensils and napkins. _Here goes nothing..._

"Dinner time!" I caught them in the act of setting the table.

"Great!" "We figured that we should help out a bit."

"Thanks guys, well I hope you like it. Radarr helped by being my test taster." I said, putting the food and drink on the table.

"Hey no fair, I wanted to do that!" complained Finn.

"It smells great!" complimented Junko.

"Thanks for going all out," Thanked Piper.

"Yeah, it's like a feast!" Aerrow said, as he sat down and began serving himself.

"Remember that time at Terra Vapos?" asked Junko. _The episode where Finn was thought to be the prophesied Domo!_

"Finn going power mad yet again? Who could forget," said Piper.

"In my defense, we saved those people."

"The food _was_ great..." Aerrow allowed.

"Food that wasn't ours!"

"You guys!" I interrupted. "I understand that their food was great but I'm antsy to know hows _mine_..."

Everyone was eating quietly, eating something of everything but I saw in their faces how it was blowing in their minds.

"Whoohoo!" "I think I'm gonna cry.." Said Finn, holding his plate up. "This great!" laughed Junko, shaking my arm.

"If this is how you cook, I'm afraid of how you bake..."

"Oh no worries Piper, I cook this good because I _can't_ bake." We laughed. I finally dug into my helping, Junko going for his second.

"So what other adventures have you guys had since?" _King for a day was an episode of the first season, that leaves over thirty episodes before __**Cyclonia Rising**__..._

"There was the one where we accidentally went into Terra Deep to get away from the Cyclonians..."

"What happened?"

"The Murk Raiders, the protectors, naturally didn't like our intrusion but after a while we managed to get out,"

"The calling of all domos!" cried Finn.

"Finn and Stork accidentally led the Murk Raiders to Vapos but that was after Ravess's shipment of leech crystals in Amazonia-" started Piper. _She got a nice big window_...I laughed.

"Looking after Tynki!" inputted Junko proudly.

"Yeah...and the 'Rozen Yoga' of the Colonel," said Aerrow

"Don't. Remind me." forced Piper.

"You have to admit, it's kind of funny..._now._" Aerrow persuaded

"So was Terra Zartacla fun too?" she egged

"How was in being in jail at fourteen?"

"Fun. But that guy was totally creepy."

"Only fourteen and you've been incriminated..." I said shaking my head. He shrugged and shook his head.

"What are you gonna do,"

"Then there was that thing with Harrier!"

"I can't believe he was dumb enough to trust the cyclonians after being double crossed and beaten by the Dark Ace in front of all those people the **first time**!" argued Finn.

"Yeah...but we found the Ancient City, that was exciting. I remember because Aerrow gave me the Oracle Stone."

"You never did tell us if you saw anything..." accused Finn.

"Uh...it was nothing we couldn't handle." I looked at Aerrow's eyes. I knew he was lying. He saw them being enslaved by Cycloniss. He almost choked on the water he was swallowing, and I looked away.

"Do you still have that stone Piper?"

"Of course! It's a dud but it's a souvenir. It was one of the best adventures we've had. Minimal fighting."

"If it was a dud, why'd you give it to Piper?" I pressed._ Depending on how he answers I'll know..._

"Well...Piper loves crystals...I-I just thought she'd like it since it once was one of the most powerful stones known in Atmos..." _Ladies and_ _Gentleman_...

"Do you still have it?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"You're right, that was a dumb question."

"Don't forget about the time the Condor was swallowed by the Leviathan?" Stork added with his well known wavering voice.

"I don't know which was worse, the Condor being swallowed, or you trading it for a useless piece of-!"

"We got it back didn't we?" said Junko.

"And with free upgrades..." soothed Finn pointing his index fingers and thumbs.

"Right, and we broke the last airspeed record of the Storm Hawks...that was great..." He breathed.

"The Colonel happened to be the one who bought it...I still wonder why he used to try to take us down..." Explained Aerrow

"I wonder how the little guy's doing..." Junko wondered out loud.

"Wait! You jumped over a lot! There was the cloning artifact thingy I took from Snipe-"

"Gave us a scare, we thought you lost you little buddy,"

"Of course you were worried. What would you do with out the Finn-ster?" I rolled my eyes.

"One Finn is more than enough." Piper ended.

"The creepy producers from Terra Neon..."

"I didn't know you could slam like that, it was impressive," said Aerrow

"I don't just handle the helm and invent gadgets." challenged Stork. Aerrow put his hands up.

"I wonder how Ravess and the Talons handled them..."

"Ravess played her symphony until they went deaf?" proposed Piper. Aerrow laughed.

"Polaris Point!" Yelled Finn."Best. Concert. Ever!" He said with every strong strum.

"Then there was the Talon Academy..." Piper added "I hope no one else was fooled into joining the Talons..."

"What ever happened to the kids there?" I said, indirectly asking if they had contact with the 'Storm Hawks Reserve Team'.

"They want to be Sky Knights now. They're spreading the word about how uncool it was to be a Talon."

"They were going to be ordered to attack a defenseless Terra! I couldn't believe it, Terra Tranqua doesn't have a Sky Knight Squadron!" cried out Piper

"Good thing you guys got there. I would have been guys don't have a choice but to be in the war, but innocent children? That was a low blow. How low can Cycloniss get?"

"Real low." said Piper regretfully. I felt bad. I'm as desperate as her to have a girlfriend. I couldn't imagine how that must have been like.

"Then there was the Sky Siren at The Great Expanse..." Raddarr enacted how he single-handedly saved the entire team, and fist pumped.

"That wasn't the only time Radarr piloted the Condor, the time we gave Carver a second chance. With Stork's permission of course." Aerrow reminded.

"_Then_ the calling of all Domos!" cried Finn.

"Argyn..." said Aerrow in annoyance of the strange man. "But I have to admit, however unconventional the training was, we learned a new skill that helped us take down Dark Ace, Ravess, and Snipe who were almost invincible. _Almost._"

"The time you traded the Condor..." mentioned Stork begrudgingly.

"Which we got back..." reminded Finn

"You forgetting the password to disabling the hypnosis crystal..." Piper reminded.

"I remembered didn't I?"

"Last minute!" Yelled Aerrow. Piper sipped her water slowly, remembering that she and Cycloniss fought hard. I saw the show but it was in really bad quality and I couldn't hear what they were saying. I definitely couldn't ask Piper to tell me.

"How 'bout the time we were framed for dozens of crimes? I know I'm green, but I don't look bad." Stork grumbled.

"That was a pain-" Aerrow said.

**AN: Here's a good place to stop. Let's start a project together, make the pasta per the instructions here. I never cooked spaghetti this way but I had to write it this way assuming that they don't have all of the condiments we do. Over the course of this part of the story, we'll modify the recipe until it's really good. We'll decide on a name later. Or now. I'd like to thank the author of this: s/4693989/1/Storm-Hawks because here is where I read the first paragraph, until I got to Terra Tranqua, to remember that it was Terra_ Tranqua_. I read no more than that. I already saw that episode. She is very dedicate, she wrote out many of the episodes, which I'll read to get a better feel of how they're supposed to talk. Or am I doing okay?**


	4. Chapter 3 Part Two Information Overload

**For the lost on Terra Mesa, and The Interceptors which I'm sure fought hard. Also for, hopefully, some relief of the pain that Starling has to deal with being the only one undercover. Maybe she needs a friend there who's also undercover.*Starling***

Chapter Three Part Two

_Pain...I tried to blink away the vertigo and high that I was getting from the onslaught of information. I missed __**a lot**__..._

"My hair. Does** not**. Look like that." said Finn angrily. Radarr cut in with another charade. That I didn't understand. Except something about a ship.

"Right Radarr, the stratosphere," _Only Aerrow..._

"Ravess was planning on deploying a weapon into the exosphere called the Exopod. Radarr knock it out of orbit. No idea what it's for but none of us wanted to find out the hard way."

"The last stand of the Wallop miners," said Junko proudly. "It was the day that the Wallop resistance got together."

"Life with Leugey..." Stork shuddered.

"That was incredible! If we made you coughed up that Gravitron crystal, we wouldn't have had to break into the giant Gunstaff's lab!" cried Piper

"You mean like an actual giant?"

"Yeah,"

"Was he a Crystal Mage, Scientist...?"

"From what I could see, he wasn't experimenting with him so I'd say he 's a researcher."

"I wonder how Repton and the Raptors fared..." Wondered Stork, always finding pleasure in the troubles of his enemies."

"When Finn was turned into a fish monster mutant and almost ate Piper?"

"The fleas were not cool man." Finn growled.

"When Perry switched places with Piper...how could we not tell the difference?"

"That's what I'd like to know, _Aerrow_..."

"My achievements as lead Sky Scout!" Said Stork, doing a power stance. _He's really come a long way..._

"Deaah-the chicken's infatuation with Radarr!" Aerrow almost screamed. Radarr had the look of I-can't-believe-you-brought-that-nightmare-up-to-save-yourself-from-Piper.

"I-I wonder if they're the same chickens that helped us fight against the Dark Ace in Saharr!" Radarr did some charades and pretended to be breathing fire.

"Eating fire! No?Uh...DRAGONS!" I guessed. He touched the tip of his nose. _This is kind of fun..._

"I remember that!" said Finn, pointing to Radarr.

"Yeah-ha, we saved the witty dragons."

"And got all the Sky Knights of Atmos to help protect them. It's the least we could for all the trouble Repton caused." Aerrow, recollected.

"I never saw a dragon before!"

"We should swing by-"

"Uh guys! How about when Aerrow fell into the Condor's engine and broke all his bones...?"

"Ow, that must have hurt."

"Nothing a repair crystal can't fix," said Piper proudly "I had to steal that from Gunstaff's hut..."

"Dude! That wasn't even the best part!"

"Aerrow's itch?" Junko asked. Radarr smacked his butt.

"Say what you want but it was really **_really_**bad." I laughed having to cover my nose because the water was coming out.

"No adventure was as messed up as Domiwick. He stole Piper's breather! We didn't know how Aerrow was going to get out of Terra Deep." Finn said.

"Guy's, it's me, I'll find a way."

"Scared me almost as much as when the Condor crash in Atmosia when we had to fight Carver from the inside."

"I heard about what he did to Atmosia, with the Aurora Stone. I think you guys should have been registered for that, if not for the stealth mission at Cyclonia..."

"Sure but we don't need to be official to know who we are...right now we're staying up later than we should have been. Dinner was great Starling but we should all get some rest,"

"Already?"

"Yeah, actually that was all so far."

"No Cyclonian activity?"

"Not that we know of...we're headed to "

"Oh...okay.

"Finn, Junko you lost the bet-"

"We know, we know. Night guys!"

"Night guys!" Aerrow and Piper said. Radarr saluted them.

"Starlight! Follow me, I'll show you to the room you'll be staying in."

"Oh, you really shouldn't, the couch is just fine..."

"No way! You'll sleep in Starling's room."

"Who's starling?" I asked. like I didn't know.

"My favorite Sky Knight ever! Well, second favorite," She laughed. "She's from Terra Mesa and is one of the Interceptors, the Sky Knight squadron of the Terra. One day though, she was sent out on a mission and when she returned, her Terra was destroyed by Repton and the Raptors. She's the last, and only Interceptor as well as citizen of Terra Mesa."

"Now I definitely can't take her room..."

"She hasn't lived here since we made it for her. I bet it's because she's always undercover in Cyclonian territory. She excels in getting access into the elite circles. That's why she's the best of the best. So that's my room," She pointed to the door next to the one we were standing in front of, a few feet away, and pointing to every door counter clockwise,

"That's Arrow's, Junko and Finn's, they bunk together so Starling could have a room to herself, and Stork's room." She pressed a button that made the metal door slide to the left. _Purple..._

"I put a tooth brush, a blue one, in the cup in the bathroom. I hope you'll be comfortable here for the time being,"

"Ho! Without a doubt Piper, thank you!"

"Hmmm, goodnight..."

"Goodnight Piper." The door slid close behind her. I flopped onto the bed. _So many things happened, I would be surprised if it wasn't going to happen soon, but time we need time!_

**AN: So here's the second part. I did re-read these two chapters but I could have missed something. I'm not perfect and I'm proud of it! The high and dizziness I did feel when I was doing the research. StormHawksWiki and the official StormHawks . I decided to stop before getting into the Noob episode, Starlight's first adventure, because that's when the fun will begin. I hope it's been fun though up until now before we're getting close to the action. A thank you to stardust902 for being the first follower!  
**


	5. Chapter4Pt1 Its not that I CAN'T sleep-

**For the Absolute Zeros. They lost their home TWICE yet they still rock on, spread the rock, beat us at a frozen-pie eating contest, rock extreme snow shredding, and call us hosers. 'Spread the rock, eh?!'-Billy Rex  
**

Chapter Four Part 1  
I wasn't going to sleep, not knowing if I could possibly be sent back the way I came, If I got here when I went to sleep in the other world. _I'm not risking it._

After ten minutes, I heard Finn and Junko make their way to their room

Finn-"Agh man, I'm beat."

Junko-"*yawn* me too."

I decided to wait another ten minutes before leaving the room for the bathroom. This world was different but not scary, not at all. The bathroom wasn't hard to find; it was at the end of the hallway and it had a picture of a toilet on it. _I wonder who's idea was that..._When I opened the door, I couldn't help but notice the girl in mirror. I got closer, the door shutting behind me, to inspect this person. Even though I was redone in the animation style of the STORM HAWKS, I could still recognize myself. My skin was in a uniform color, my eyes were much bigger, I didn't have to lose weight anymore evidently, and my hair was still wavy and in it's strange shade of brown as it reached my lower back. At last, not only did I feel pretty, and looked the part but I fit in with this world, appearance wise. With my new look and new clothes you could hardly tell I wasn't from here. A quick check of my right cheek told me that my little dark spot, the same as Cycloniss, was still there. I just had to play crazy face, I couldn't help myself, to explore the changes in my face according to my expressions.

Finally after I had my fun, I moved to brush my teeth. As Piper promised, a dark blue toothbrush was in the cup along with the red, green, orange, yellow, aqua-blue, fern, and a solitary purple toothbrush. _Starling..._The toothpaste was pretty close to what I was used to. It was crushed mint with baking soda and cellulose gum to keep the consistency of goo. On the left was the toilet, and on the right, there wasn't a tub but a shower head hanging from the ceiling, a drain and a towel rack not too far away. _Maybe I should shower...It would wake me up...?_ The fact that I only brought one underwear with me, the one I had on, was going to be a problem. _I wonder where I can get more...**when**... _I went back to my-Starling's room to get my bundle. I washed myself using some of the flower infused body wash, _The guys use this too?...a flowery Aerrow.._.and washed my underwear and changed into my original shirt and new pants. I popped my head out the door to check if the cast was clear then hurried back into Starling's room. I let my bundle slide under the bed and hung my undies out the thin window high up the wall. It was still dark, the clock, a couple of pipes and three clock faces, said it was one in the morning. _Great..._I groaned and flopped on to the bed. It was a mattress obviously, but a sack filled with something soft. It was pretty comfortable.

I explored the room with my eyes, I really did like the shade of purple, there was drawer, a closet and a poster of a concert that they must have gone to before, as well as a Murphy desk and trunk in front of the bed. _And the legendary pig suit..._It was in good shape. I held it up to my body; it'd fit. I pulled it on and mimicked some Sky Fu moves in front of the mirror. The fluff used was soft so it allowed for extreme movement like kicking out two Cyclonians simultaneously in the air.

Just out of curiosity I checked the inside of all the furniture. It was all empty. I played with the rabbit that was here, making it dance. _What would it be like if Starling was here? And was an official Storm Hawk? How would that work if she is so...devoted to the Interceptors? She'll always be an Interceptor, she'll just have a new family...surely she could have both. _Another look at the clock and it was three in the morning. For some reason I could estimate how long it would take for the sun to or for the rain to start according to the colors and clouds in the sky. I estimated that since it was still dark it would take about five hours for the sun to rise or start rising. I could be wrong, nature could work differently. The Raptors were giant, talking lizards right? Unwilling to go to sleep still, I head to the Bow, the only room available to explore in the middle of the night._  
_

The lights flickered on as I came in. It was very spacious, all of the Sky Knights including the squads would be able to fit here comfortably. _I can't believe Dark Ace was here, along side his loyal friend, Lightning strike...Sick son of a-!_ I caressed the large round table, and traced the Hawk that adorned it. Nothing here was out of place, suppose Stork was who kept this part of the ship organized. There were scrolls curled into themselves, staying that way naturally after so much wear, in the cubbies under the large map of Atmos and in the boxes on top of the file cabinets. There was also a bookshelf made of scrap metal parts bolted together and bent to make a six shelf bookshelf.

The large map of Atmos was hand painted and drawn with a very skilled hand. Lines crossed over it vertically and horizontally, a pair of numbers, lines whose ends met on a Terra. A red 'X' was closer to the left, closer to a darker part of Atmos. With eyes scrunched and completely intrigued I skimmed through the scrolls, lands painted on them and labeled, I guess, with numbers. I went back to the first cubicle and pulled one of the parchments out.

"Q4, C (10,-10), Terra Atmosia..." I mumbled. I took a quick look up and got the point with my eyes and unrolled it. TERRA ATMOSIA at the top in bold letters. I was an aerial view of the entire Terra, grays and teals blue were the mountains, the forest green the forest surrounding and spotting the Terra beautifully.

"The dirt patch!" The dirt patch and the buildings, little colorful spots but there was a little more attention to detail to the Sky Knight Council Administration Building and Beacon Tower. Arrows pointed to certain areas, describing the terrain, average climate, and what would be needed to live there for a bit.

"Constant sunshine, pleasant warmth, and anything needed can be found in the markets as well as advice from the Sky Knight Council. Protected by the Red Eagles Sky Knight Squadron."

"Terra Neverlandis, home of orphans not far from Atmosia but not part of Atmosia. Protected by the Red Eagles Sky Knight Squadron."

I looked back to the map to the point that the Terra was on. There were a few Terras nearby painted with similar colors. I plucked another one of pair of numbers, it was from the same cubby I see.

"Terra Rex...An ultra-traditional Terra, home to the Rex Guardians the oldest Sky Knight Squadron on record still in existence that perfected the ancient fighting stances found in The Code book. The only Terra and Squadron that still follow the rules and Sky Knight etiquette that have not been changed since the date of their creation. Protected by the Rex Guardians Sky Knight Squadron."

Totally fascinated and high on the influx of excitement, yeah I'm a total nerd, I kept pulling out maps; All of the ones labeled Q4.

"Terra Neon, a non-terrain Terra. A colossal amusement park with thousands of twinkling lights visible skylometers away! It is a;ways packed with people from all over Atmos attracted by the thirty-seven roller coaster rides, dozens of carnival games, and twenty-four hour gravy buffets, side show tents and its grand theater where the greatest acts are hosted; What Terra neon is most famous for: FUN. "The only thing more fun than a day in Terra Neon, is two days on Terra Neon. (no Sky Knight Squadron)"

"Terra Edmontia, home to Engineers who are known to invent and create from scratch inventions requested from other Terras. A big sister to Terra Greemus, where the Heliscooter was invented. Terra Greemus was the last Terra to take flight.(no Sky Knight Squadron)"

"Terra Klockstoppia, A little old-fashioned, medieval Terra where crystals and any form of crystal technology is forbidden and illegal. Upon entering, all crystals must be seized by their authorities in a cave regardless of its use or necessity.(no Sky Knight Squadron)" In what I assumed was Pipers handwriting:**Now run by Princess Peregrine herself! Ally to the Storm Hawks!  
**

"Terra Glockenchime, a small, remote Sky-Knight-Squadron-less Terra that houses the Timepulse Tower, the central navigation system of all the airships in Atmos kept by the Time Keepers. THE Timepulse Crystal is what emits the timepulses and is generated by the fast turning gears within the tower that is released in time with time. The Timepulse is what sense nearby airships and reveal them in the radars of nearby airships. It is crucial and relied on for navigation and without it there's no order in Sky Traffic.(no Sky Knight Squadron)"

"Terra Tranqua, a calm Terra which does not have any attack or defense mechanisms and does not have a Sky Knight squadron assigned to protect it."

"**Terra Xoam, a jungle-covered Terra home to what was thought as lost, the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is the home, in ruins underground, of the Oracle Stone that can tell you your future. The original builders believed in tricks and hoaxes so the underground ruins are full of booby-traps. The only way to get out is knowing that nothing is what it seems. (already raided, no Sky Knight Squadron needed)**"

"Terra Aquanos, located in the Cloud Seas and home of half-man/ half-fish beings (the native inhabitants). Protected by the Neck Deeps Sky Knight Squadron. Note: There is a watering hole perfect for a fisherman's hungry belly nearby, the Skyside Shanty. It's famous for their Extra-potent Quadruple-malt vinegar Vinegar often paired with the Skyfood Combo Platter (Deep fried everything) ***Note: Also nearby is the Leviathan who doesn't care for the Signature Vinegar the Shanty is known for. Be sure to pick some up before crossing the Cloud Seas, just in case...Don't forget about the Sky Sharks!They like to dent your ship from the outside.**"

A look to the large map revealed a corner of the fourth quadrant was updated with sketches of other Terras. "Terra Xerxxes, Tasty, the Colonel's Compound, and that darn 'Rozan Yoga' Terra..."

"Q1, Terra Saharr a dusty desert Terra home to the famous Atmos Great Race hosted by its protector Squadron the Third Degree Burners. A great location for a sell and buy trade of miscellaneous objects open to bartering and bargaining if you're willing to haggle a bit."

"Terra Tundras, the location of two out of three productive mines abundant in powerful crystals in all of Atmos, specifically Shielding/Cloaking Crystals. Is in possession of the Cyclonian Empire (protection enough, no squadron needed)."

"Terra Blizzaris,**(^was)** home to 'Blizzarians' where they moved to after their original home, Terra Bluster, was taken over by Ravess. Was once a desert Terra, explaining it's location (surrounded by dusty, nothing Terras). **(****^was)** Protected by the Absolute Zeros Sky Knight Squadron. ***Due to interference from Repton and the Raptors, the slumbering volcano erupted and after throwing the Blizzard Crystal into it, was frozen. There was too much damage so the Blizzarians and their Squadron moved to Terra Nord for a temporary stay by invitation of the Sky knight of the Sky Knight Squadron of Terra Nord. Still inhabited by leapers but don't worry, they're harmless. The Absolute Zeros are Allies to the Storm Hawks!**"

"Terra Mesa, a prosperous Terra filled with abundant flora and fauna and home of the Mesaines. The perfect place for hunting, herb gathering and the greatest local Sky Fu and Aerial Combat Training. Protected by the Interceptors (It is located on the origin, the intersection of the axis). **(*The large population of Terra Mesa and the four Squadron mates were..._eliminated_ by Repton and the Raptors except for their Sky Knight, Starling sole citizen and last Interceptor survivor of Terra Mesa. The entire Terra was burned down, thus why Terra Mesa is now a dry Terra.) **I had to take a long inhale and exhale before rolling it up again. Being friends with Starling is part of the plan. With her knowledge and help...?

"Terra Tropica, located in the southwest of the first quadrant is THE hotspot for relaxation, surfing, swimming, and umbrella drinks! and its cousin Terra is Terra Ray, hotter than Tropica, located in the south east."

"Polaris Pointe located near Terra Amazonia, not a Terra but famous for its only-way-through-is-through, the only safe passage through the quadrant. With massive, constant destructive storms on either side, the sky traffic from nearby Terras are forced to go through to avoid it's storms that no Airship can come back from in one piece. Cyclonian airspace to the East, the Great Expanse to the West.***Note, obliterated via one harmonized Geyser Crystal with Starling.**" On the map, it was a red 'X'.

"There's the...Terra of Giant Bananas? Well I'll be...Sky Dealer Terra, home of an unreliable ship dealer _of unreliable ships. The unreliable shi-_...The Wayside, one of many airship rest stops and greasy spoons on the trade routes between Terras to fuel up not just the travelers but airship, rides, with repair garages, and stock. _Huh, Chicken's Radarr love, Radarr's Chicken love...Radarr was left behind_...The specialty being Atmos-homestyle cooking, though it probably won't remind you of any home or home-style cooking you've tasted or been before. Not from any where, definitely not from Atmos but pretty tasty."

**AN: I did my HOMEWORK! And I did make this map (I do have a life, I'm just devoted, to writing too)I saw that the monsters in the show were listed in the characters section of the official stormhawks site and I was like _WHAT?!_ Stork will be making a debut as a crude humor author. At some point. Are you interested? BTW do you read this? Review please...How 'bout a Aeronautics mechanical engineer 101 guide for dummies? Co-written by Finn and Junko?  
**

**-There are five members of the Interceptors including Starling. There are four male Squad mates, not including Starling.**

**-I don't know what the name of the Terra the Blizzarians are originally from, assuming that they're called Blizzarians because of the Blizzard Crystal and because Bluster is a cyclonian conquered Terra and its close to the name Blizzaris, I made it into their original Terra.**

***I fudged somethings like the description of Terra Mesa but I'm pretty sure it was fantastic once.**

***I made up Degrees Below, fashioned after the Absolute Zeros.**

**cross-referenced sources: storm hawks site,list of Terras visited wiki**

**-BTW disclaimer from the first chapter is kept broad so it applies to every chapter. It's late so towards the end, a lot is copy and paste. Because the sites are information sources and disclaimed, let's pretend it's written on the maps.  
**

**-"Strong" by Will Hodge.(Kinda perfect) I'm renaming it "Starlight's Strength Anthem". When She's in (emotional) turmoil imagine it played with electric guitars and violins, drums...****-The "Caramel Flan Latte by Starbucks" will be the song for when Starlight is tender or in love.**

**Why? Because I heard the songs as I typed and I thought they were perfect considering Starlight's personality and the world she's in.**


	6. Chapter42-I don't WANT to SLEEP anyMORE

**For Repton and the Raptors, because they're under the control of Cycloniss. Technically (Refer to Episode One), Because even bad guys have feelings otherwise they wouldn't be so corrupted. They're victims of the world too.**

Chapter Four Part 2

"Quadrant Three, the Great Expanse.** Seemingly infinite expanse of unstable terrain, the uncharted part of Atmos is haunted by illusion-casting Sky Sirens that block the Timepulse and who forces the sun to shine always not allowing use of Stellar Markers to pin point coordinates or time according to the position of the stars. The mysterious energy surrounding the area affects everything on the ship to the minds of the crews. The Sky Sirens bring airships and their crews to their demise by luring them in with their desires forgetting about driving the ship straight through. The only to escape is by mot giving into temptation and driving straight through until you get to the other side**.***It helps to have a tiny co-pilot who gives into his desire that saves the crew.**"

"Terra Nord, a relatively cold Terra protected by the Degrees Below Sky Knight Squadron."

"**The Black Gorge is at a remote part of Atmos, above the Wastelands but not on any Terra and is not considered a Terra itself. It's a sunless crevasse, only one place in the Black Gorge sees sunlight and only for a few seconds a year, however, the giant poison-toothed spiny gorge sloths make this spot their home because they need sunlight to transform from cute animals to nasty creatures. But Gorge Sloths aren't the only fearsome monster:there's metal-eating vulka-bats, giant meat-eating plants, living tar tar-monsters, and giant Snapping eels. The Black Gorge has a natural energy field that quickly drains crystals of their power, discouraging travel anywhere near it or out of it so any air vehicle is destined to fall into it. If in the Gorge for too long, anyone ins prone to succumb to "Gorge Madness**".**(not exactly unprotected)**.

The map of Terra Deep was obviously not just decades years old and well preserved.

"T**erra Deep is obscured by thick clouds, filled with deep caverns, craggy rocks and no solid ground to speak of. Due to the dense clouds, the atmospheric pressure increases as a ship descends until it is eventually crushed. The Murk Raiders, squadron and dwellers of the Deep, raid the falling ships leaving the wreckage strewn about the landscape after raiding them. This makes the Terrain a lot more treacherous which is why it is abandoned and avoided, a perfect place for the Raiders to hide**.**(not exactly left unprotected)**."

"**Terra Bogaton, a dry hot desert Terra sparse in trees and covered in sweeping grasslands. It is home to Repton's lair, a tower-like fortress defended by Atmos's most sophisticated aerial energy canon defense system, a network of energy canons scattered about the Terra. It can detect anything that goes above the treeline and shoots it down with deadly accuracy (even targets as small as a common fly). Because of this, ground travel is a necessity within its borders. The system does not discriminate from friend and foe, so the Raptors themselves are forced into ground travel as well. Their vehicles, however, are designed to operate efficiently on the rough terrain, so they still have the advantage**. **(not exactly left unprotected).**"

"Terra Zartacla, a jungle and swamp lands Terra with Occucrows and vicious Bood-Hyde Trackbeats, and where the highly secured Cyclonian prison is located."

"Terra Merb, **a land mass frequently hit with a variety of natural disasters leading its Merb population to 'adopt an extremely cautious outlook on life'**."

"Terra Wallop, home of Wallops made up of fist shaped peakes. Current allies of Clyclonia. **(no protection needed)**."

"**Terra Vapos,** **once believed to be a myth, is an ancient and mysterious Terra. The Terra was rumored to be prosperous in land, and wealth but it has been under siege by hoards of Verrocs, loose from their underground dwelling by an earthquake, who destroyed their homes and ate their crops constantly. Finn was thought to be their prophesied Domo who was supposed to be eaten by the Giant Verroc and save Vapos but Aerrow and Finn sealed all the Verrocs back underground. The people of Vapos are magically linked to the Terra, and no object from its surface can leave without vaporizing. However, the objects are not destroyed when this happens, but simply reappear on Vapos after a short period. Repton and the Raptors took a crystal from us but King Agar assured us it would come back.**"

"Terra Amazonia, a remote Terra, is almost completely rain forests. It's sparsely populated with scattered villages built in the canopy of tree since any roads made would be covered in over grown vegetation in no time. It's said that the trees of Amazonia grow back 2 months after being chopped down. **(no Sky Knight Squadron)**"

"Terra Gale, a Cyclonian territory used as one of the many factories to produce Cyclonian equipment. The most prized possession of Gale is called the cheese stone. This crystal can turn, when aimed, any object into cheese. Protected by the Rebel Ducks. ***Dove and Wren lead the Resistance along with the Rebel Ducks. The Rebel Ducks and Resistance are allies of the Storm Hawks!**"

"Second Quadrant, Talon Academy. **Set up by the Cyclonians as a training and recruiting school to feed the ranks of their Talon Squadrons**. **Shut down by the Storm Hawks and the former students now make up our Reserve Team.**"

"Terra Toledos **known for its wrestling**, Bluster and Nimbus are Cyclonian territories. Ravess is given control of Bluster, Snipe Nimbus." _Cycloniss gives aaway Terras to friends like they're cookies?! What a contact!_

"The Wastelands, **the ground beneath the clouds of Atmos**. **The Wastelands are essentially one giant magma flow, with various craggy rock formations and geysers of lava resulting from the unstable terrain. The Wastelands are teeming with hostile creatures adapted to it. Among those seen are large, eel-like creatures that live in the lava, Scorpion Flies, and Elephant Ants, as other residents. The Wastelands may have valuable natural resources, such as crystals.**

"The Barrier Cliffs, basically high mountain range barriers against the other parts of Atmos. You need to reach a Stratospheric Altitude just to see **something** over it. Travel through is impossible."

"**CYCLONIA is Mater Cycloniss's home and capitol of her vast and dark Cyclonian Empire. It dwarfs every other Terra in Atmos, due to the large number of secondary peaks surrounding it. Fitting with the ever-expanding Cyclonian empire, Cyclonia itself is much more industrialized than is standard for Terras, its operations extending well into the wastelands below it. Cyclonia is a highly militarized Terra, for they are known for the massive Talon armies, led by the Dark Ace, that conquer whole Terras. The Terra's sky is never blue; it is always stormy with a blood-red hue.**"

Wait a second...Terras, Quadrants...mostly dry Terras were in the first quadrant, Atmosian in the fourth, wet in the third, and most if not all of the Cyclonian Empire in the second...coordinates...this part of Atmos is separated into quadrants and each Terra is on a coordinate even if the coordinates are decimals and the Interceptors lived on the _**interception of the axis! **_**The map of the know Atmos is a ****graph****!**

Everything clicked in my brain and it all made sense to me. _Crap, you do use Algebra in real life..._I put everything away neatly as they were after a final look to it before doing so. _So how much time did I burn? _The windows in the bow didn't have anything covering it so I saw the sun coming up. _Breakfast time?_

I stifled a yawned and walked to the kitchen. _I can totally last a few nights without sleep...hmmm...eggs and toast? French toast? French toast..._I was beating the eggs when Aerrow almost got a Merbian scare tactic out of me.

"Hey," he greeted, surprised.

"Morning," I blushed, conscious and selfconscious of the frilly, pink apron I was wearing.

"Morning. Couldn't sleep?" I shrugged, shaking my head.

"Nightmares?..." I tilted my head.

"Something like that. Why are you up so early? Monster under your bed?" He laughed, mussing his hair.

"No, I'm just used to waking up at dawn." I noticed his sunken eyes.

"And if they were, however it got past us, I would have been rid of it. You don't have to cook this morning after last night's feast-"

"I'm already started and it's my pleasure. I'll get breakfast done soon."

"Alright...well I hope you're ready for your first day of training,"

"You bet. And Aerrow?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't go easy on me."

"Wasn't planning on it." He smirked, I smiled.

_This is gonna be fun._

**AN: somethings are fudged and cross-referenced, **

**sources: storm hawks site,list of Terras visited wiki**

**-BTW disclaimer from the first chapter is kept broad so it applies to every chapter. It goes back to me re-wording as much as possible while keeping the info.I went back to bold parts I copy and pasted as if Piper supplied the info. Just in case. I'm sorry if it's disorienting. I also re-word some to make it sound like Piper. And I named the sources so I shouldn't be accused of plagiarism or copyright infringement right? If I did I didn't meant it.**

**I'm not Merb, just Piper, detailed.**

**It had to be broken into two chapters because it was too long and the training has to be a separate chapter.**

**If I missed anything of anything it's because my eyes are disoriented for lack of sleep and re-reading countless times. THIS WAS YOUR VALENTINE'S PRESENT! SHARE IF YOU GOT ANYTHING TODAY. IF YOU WANT.**

***I was gobsmacked when I got the map. It was a while ago but still. Starlight doesn't know about Neverlandis but has suspicions of the relationship between Lightning Strike and Aerrow.**


	7. Chapter 5 This is Where the Fun Begins

**For the Absolute Zero Squaddies, thanks for immediately thinking Piper was the leader of the Storm Hawks. It was a real scratch behind the ears. Thanks for being proud of your leader, a female Sky Knight, Suzy Lu who isn't perfect but makes a great guide (convinces you, and comforts about moving to Nord. Kudos to her.), and makes things right in the end. Whoooo! Rock on!...And for making 'rock on' cool again!**

Chapter Five

"Here?" We were in the bay area in the lower decks of the ship, the hatch open while we were still fighting. I he wasn't worried then I wouldn't be either.

"Here's where we'll do your weapon combat training, and Piper will teach you the Sky Fu she knows that channels your own natural energy. I'll show some stuff too, then we'll well take it up a notch and practice it airborne."

"UH-huh..."

"But let's not worry about that; Let's just take it step by step. How much combat do you know?"

"I've got killer instincts and reflexes? I've learned to dodge things so I know I can dodge hits. I also know I can take a punch."

"Alright-y...that's a start. Show me what'cha got!" I held up my hands in fists tentatively.

"Don't hesitate and clasp your fists harder. The Dark Ace and Cycloniss are highly trained in fist to fist combat. If you lose your weapon then you have to know how to use your natural weapon, your muscles if and when you find yourself in that situation." I nodded, my fists tighter and pumping my blood up by bouncing on the balls of my feet.

"Good, now come at me!" I aimed to put him on his ass. Thing is I _didn't_ know how to fight but I trusted my instincts and myself, hopefully that was enough. I went to jab him in the ribs which he parried. I kept my eyes focused into his so he was distracted by my constant eye contact. Cyclonians always blinked first. Storm Hawks never do. I did my usual move: moved in to push but used my feet as brakes to keep my from falling. His feet faltered a little but he regained his footing almost immediately. _Don't think, keep hitting!_ I kept jabbing by all he did was parry and I wasn't fighting him anymore but to get some skin and I didn't have to be Einstein to know that was wrong. I grabbed hold of his arm, not to hurt him but use him against himself, to get myself behind him and kick him in his butt then whirled around to push him again with my other foot. It worked but he was _letting me win_...

"Why. aren't. you. fighting. back?!" I asked, a jab, a kick for each other word.

"Why are you expecting me too?"

"Aren't. you the one. who's. role playing. as the bad guy?!"

"You're unsure of yourself and your emotions are taking the control. Always be sure of yourself and you'll keep hitting. Soon you'll get something." I tried harder to focus and ignored the easy 'kill' and went for what I thought he wouldn't expect. A kick in the nuts. He pushed my kick down, just like I expected, and I kicked him in the side with my other leg. He let the hit pushed him to the ground and rolled back on to his feet.

"Now you're getting it." I was already breathless and he was breathing normally._ Damn..._

"Your stamina will increase and so will your strength."

"You know Aerrow and I trained together fighting against each other." I turned to see Piper coming down the stairs with a tray and glasses of water.

"Really?"

Piper-"Yeah, it was like fighting myself with a mind separate from mine. We knew the same moves just not which was going to be used."

Aerrow-"And after a while we were able to read each other's mind and ended up bouncing off each other instead of actually fighting." Aerrow added, taking his glass. I took a swig of mine.

"You guys were fighting for so long that you knew each other in that state just as well as you know each other in _this_ one..."

Piper-"Right!"

"So when you fight the Dark Ace..."

Aerrow-"We're pretty evenly matched but even though he's had Talon training, personally from Cycloniss I bet, I know a few tricks he doesn't. I still have a ways to go..."

Piper-"I think we all do but as we get better so do they. It's like an endless cycle."

"However, there's a limit to everything, always and what sucks about that is that only one can surpass the other, usually even if by a little, in the one field one is not great at. You just gotta hope you're the one with the advantage. But If not I'd get creative. It's just an observation."

Piper-"Yeah, I guess in that way we'd both be even. We each have an advantage against each other and no one comes up top if it's evenly matched!"

"Precisely. We're fast learners too that's why I'm not worried."

Aerrow-"Well I know I'm not worried about you. You've got what every squaddie has. Spunk."

"Spunk?"

"You can fight in your own and unique way. You'll have your own set of moves that'll keep the bad guys guessing."

"Hmmm, I'll certainly try my hardest to make them think they have the upper hand. The start easing up then."

"True but don't give the secret away. Always keep them guessing and you'll have the upper hand."

"It's common sense." I said, getting it as he did. He gave Piper his glass and thanked her. I did the same.

"Piper, I've been wondering, what crystal are you wearing around your neck? There's only a few that I know of that's blue."

"Guess..." she challenged.

"Blocking crystal?" she shook her head.

"Icer?" "Not a Floater...Boomer?Eesh...I only know of a few,"

"You dabble in crystals?"

"I research but never really got close enough to handle one."

"I have lots! If you're interested I can teach you some stuff?"

"Really?! That'd be perfect! Geyser crystals are my favorite!"

"Mine is this one I'm wearing; a dreamer crystal. Aerrow gave it to me on Terra Neverlandis, around the time I was just starting out. He said it'd help me make my dreams come true."

"Have they?"

"To some extent. Well I'll leave you guys to it. See ya later!"

"Now...let's try finding you a weapon."

"A what?!" He walked up confidently to the wall where all of the weapons were hanged up.

"The Energy twin Blades, powered by rare blue striker crystals the never lose power. You can attach the blades by the hilts in the middle making it a dual-ended sword. It... comes in handy when you're cornered by your opponent or fighting multiple enemies."

Piper's Energy Staff, with it she can hit her opponents with different effects or blasts...depending on the crystal she puts at the ends.

Finn's Energy Crossbow, it's a special edition. It has **rapid loading function, and a double** telescopic or **scoping mechanism. **Junko painted the face on the tip. Its a...fun plus. You can use any of the arrows. Depending on the crystal attached to it, you can shoot a number of different effects. You know if Finn's crossbow is **oi****led up and in good working order, he can shoot a fly off a tri-horned wallabeast's rear and probably not even get trampled**!"

"What are those?" I asked pointing at the large metal balls with faces painted on them. Another Junko creation I bet.

"Junko's Turkey Burps." I laughed.

"Who-wat?!"

"Maybe they have a funny name but they **pack a big punch of energy** when they're **dropped on enemy territory**."

"The faces are pretty adorable!"

"That over there is Junko's Energy Canon,"

"Wow, he really is head of ballistics! I'd like to try _that_ out!"

"Junko's the only one strong enough to handle this **behemoth freehand. **It can** blast enormous holes **through the toughest airships. Junko builds the arrows and Piper stabilizes the crystals so it's safe to use. We're a real assembly line."

"This is a Cyclonian energy whip we got when we fought them not too long ago. Its seriously damaging in the hands of someone who's skilled with it."

"I should learn then. It might prove to be helpful."

"Yeah, it's missing a fire bolt crystal though but this Cyclonian staff I think still has some juice in it."

"Do you guys often collect their weapons?"

"It's not like we're fans or anything, it's to check their level of crystal technology. They're good fighters even without it. So far so good." _Not for long..._

"So take your pick."

I couldn't pick any of the Cyclonian weapons. I didn't have an Idea how to use them and I didn't have basic knowledge of crystals at the very least. I decided on the twin blades. The Cyclonian or Piper's staff would have been my second choice, which ever was available in battle first. Aerrow popped the crystals out of his blades before getting into his starting battle stance. I charged 'aiming' to take him out in the first shot but moved out of the way of his parry and whipped my arms around to hit him in the gut with the hilts. I took the breath out of him but he quickly spread his arms and turned to face me, I ducked under his arms when he turned. It was like dodge ball and limbo. If you can doge a wrench, you can doge a ball. If you can doge a ball, you can doge a sword.

I bent backwards on to my hands like in reverse crab. I can't get up from here, yet, but I opted for rolling over and sweeping my leg under him. He jumped, I pushed myself up to push him down, a firm grip on the blades and prepared for the impact. But he swiped his blades in front of him, in an x; I pushed him away from me bracing my hands on the floor to kick the blades out of his hands, just doing what would make this battle end. He lost his grip on one, my whip kick with my other leg kicked it away. I got back on my feet in a crouch, him the same in front of me. He swiped his blade at me, followed by a punch. I parried the blade but didn't protect myself from the punch. It was _hard_ but I stood my ground; Aerrow firmed up again. I swiped horizontally and vertically simultaneously. He leaped back. Back to where his lost blade was.

"We keep going until there's a yield-er." He said, now with both blades again. I was tired but I can be just as stubborn.

"Hah!" I war cried, and charged. He came too. Chicken. Though squinted, I kept my eyes open and let myself slip. I swiped my blades in an X above me. He jumped, legs opened but hands too close to my face and flip above me.

"How are you going to take these away?" he asked. I was getting angry, he was more skilled than I but it was important that he used all his strength, other wise how was I to catch up? I kept my breaths deep to soothe the anger away so I could fight level headed.

Still crouched low to the floor, I waited for him to charge. He wasn't going to let him make me dance anymore. I got up the exact moment he charged and ole'd away, with a kick to his back. He lost his balance and belly flopped but so what, I pounced on his back, throwing my blades away looping my arm around his arms and pulled them back. His elbows locked and touching my ribs.

"Stalemate." I pulled harder.

"Alright, I yield!" I held on a little longer, not trusting him then let go when I realized I was in a compromising position on top of him for too long stranger's should be.

"That was fantastic! But why'd d'you let go of your weapons when I still had both of mine?" He asked, breathless with a sweat drop running down his face. I fluffed my hair that wasn't in a tie this whole time.

"I was in the moment, but I wasn't afraid. I knew I timed it right, I felt it." we clasped hands.

"Well done, you're a natural!"

"I'll admit though, I was angry when you got your second blade back like**_ oh, come on_**!" I theatric-ised. He laughed.

"I wanna learn to fight you without both of my blades." I confessed picking up said blades that were on either side of the room.

"No doubt you'll get there on your own. Now, to try something out of your comfort zone..."

"What?" He took my blades, hanged them up again and tossed me Piper's staff. It twirled like a baton, I never always caught flying objects but I focused on the spin and shot my up when I thought it was time. I practiced before with a broom stick.

**I hope you appreciated the hard work of the last chapters. This world is hard to write in, Atmos, because of the terms, terras, and crystals, etc...Want the 'Aeronautics Mechanical Engineer 101 guide for dummies', or 'What you need to be aware of in case you find yourself in Impending Doom' by Stork? 'Trial and Error, a self taught Crystal Research on the fly' by Piper? Happy Valentine's Day!**

**Any questions about the story or Starlight?**

**The second dedication to the Absolute Zeros was necessary. Is there anyone you want my to dedicate a chapter to from the show? Assuming YOU watched ALL 52 episodes, tell me their back story. Gundstaff will be in here and one of the dedicatees by the ways. Yeah I do my research.**

**BTW: Don't mix sugar and caffeine. It makes your hands shake so you can't type fast without mistakes or use your mouse and click accurately. Maybe I'm just sensitive.**

**READ ON, ROCK ON!**

**PS: Did you like my first time ever combat sequence? I think it's pretty good.**


	8. Chapter 6 And the Trouble

**For all you Noob's. And for Noob, let's say he's from Terra Comic-con/NerdCorps, when a show is so good it follows you everywhere. And you don't care!**

Chapter Six

I loved the sound it made when I caught it, the feeling of it fitting perfectly in my grip. I twirled it above me, in front, and kept it at my side my left hand on top and the right in an underhanded grip.

Aerrow-"Now come at me!"

"Don't be so eager!"

We charged. Aerrow swiped horizontally which I blocked, vertically which I parried by moving the staff counter then clockwise. I spun it fast to force him back and went to hit him with both sides alternating. I also moved it in this way to block any jabs. Aerrow's really good at timing. A weapon like this totally came in handy when facing a trigger happy, or in this case a stab-er or blast-er happy person. But also good for epic kicks.

I used the staff as an extra limb so I could kick him with both legs. The force propelled me on to three limbs, the fourth holding away the staff behind me.

"If these weapons had crystals, which they do in battle, you will blast and you will be blasted."

"I know," I wasn't exactly excited about that but that we would be on the same level when I had crystal power too made me feel better.

"The point is to beat them to punch on any means. Talking smack is always distracting-"

"The point being not being easily distracted."

"Precisely." _I'm a star pupil! And with a little more training I could make an excellent Talon!_

He shot forward from a leap, causing me to stand leaving me wide open for a take down. When falling my reflex is to grab the nearest thing to me to prevent my fall, if that failed then to land favorably. I was facing Aerrow's back so I gripped there, taking him with me but he was planing on being down too. His weight on my chest rendered me breathless and I only barred him with my staff in the last second. His blades were denting the bar between the gap between my grips.

"It used to be hard to fight a girl. Cycloniss changed everything." I kicked him with my toes, nicking his neck. When he winced I rolled us over. Now I was on top, using the weight of my upper body to add more pressure against his blade-block, narrowing the gap and my legs on his abdomen (knees at his ribs) prevented getting thrown off.

"We're smaller, faster, and hotter!" I said through a smirk.

"And more dangerous!" He added. I sensed a double meaning in it.

"Aerrow always gets the girl!" We simultaneously turned our heads towards the opening to the stairs. Finn had a 'geez man it's not cool anymore!'. I got off awkwardly, Aerrow pulled himself from under me just as awkward and we got on our feet.

"We're not-"

"We were just-"

"There'll soon be none for the Finnster! And you already have Piper..." He added begrudgingly. My eyebrows shot up.

"*gasp* You and Piper-!"

"No!" Aerrow denied beet red. I turned to Finn.

"And you're-!"

"No way, that's gross she's like my sister!" ((Lunch time!)) said Piper on the PA ((And no slugs!)) informed Stork. I guess I must beware of slugs.

"Thank goodness, my options were already limited. Hey Junko! I'm starved!" I skipped to the bow, leaving a blushing Junko behind. Piper was just laying down a steamy bowl of peeled boiled spuds. There were biscuits and Orange juice. Total carb load!

"You guys need the fuel since you're training so hard."

"Thanks Piper but you guys will need too." I let Stork take a couple spuds that he juggled and threw into his mouth one by one before piling some up on my plate. After putting my jaw back in place. Piper set her plate up and we were about to sit down when the guys came up.

Finn-"Oh yeah!"

Junko-"Heh-heh."

Aerrow-"Thanks Piper." I silently watched Piper smile warmly as she served them with a ladle and just set the bowl in front of Junko. It was bowl big enough to be a bowl. To Junko anyway.

Finn-"So, Starlight..."

"Yeeaah..." I braced myself for anything he could possibly say.

"How's the training coming along?"

"Fine I hope..."

Aerrow-"You're being too modest, give yourself some credit. She's a natural you guys, skilled at double blades and a crystal staff!"

"I particularly like yours better Piper. It's dual sided and you can control how much power will be put into the blast."

"Thanks. I couldn't do it without Stork. I designed it, he perfected it and made the skeleton in his blacksmith shop. I just supply the crystals to it and the other weapons we use."

"I didn't know there was a blacksmith's shop here...?"

Stork-" Oh yeah...it's where I create extra-defenses-against-DOOM." He said leaning over his plate with his all-too-serious- face expression.

"Uh-huh...and what are they, those inventions?"

"Trance Helmet, It sends whoever is wearing it into a _deep_ sleep-"

Finn-"He_ had_ to build it. _We_ needed him too. He freaks out a lot and we don't want him to hurt himself."

Stork-"Well, I. Am. Sorry!- for having to look after you!" I noticed he said them, blaming them for constantly getting the Condor in danger resulting in him worrying and not really acknowledging what Finn really meant. That he had a problem. How many times did the Condor have to be rebuilt and painted?

Stork-"Anyway, As. I. Was. SAYING! X-ray Peepers:** crystal-powered x-ray binoculars can see through just about anything**. They were built initially to search for tumors but they've worked for other stuff too."

"But they don't all always work…we almost got-uh…Nightcrawled by some Nightcrawlers that got the Condor once." A loud metal clang rang in the room.

"The…_what…?"_


	9. Chapter 7 Knowledge is Power

**For Piper. I know it's lonely but it's lonelier when you make yourself exclusive to others who would understand all too perfectly.**

Chapter 7

I gasped as I chocked and gagged on the piece of spud that got stuck in my windpipe. It was still hot and the raging thoughts in my mind made it even more uncomfortable. The crystal prison, the sky knights, the terras!

"Nigh-! Cy-niss! No-agh!" Were the sounds that I made. What I really wanted to say was,"Nightcrawlers?! Cycloniss is behind it! Time is running out, no!" but I managed to swallow it.

Junko-"Are you okay?" I shook my head.

"Nightcrawlers?"

Finn-"Yeah, the first time we had the displeasure of dealing with in was when we were in Klockstoppia." _not helping..._

"So when was the last time they showed up?"

Aerrow-"Actually, that was the only time we saw them. Is everything alright Starlight?" _Am I?_

"Yeah, totally, I'm fine." I did my best to pretend. Why in Klockstoppia were the Nightcrawlers doing? How am I going to figure out where we are or if it's too late to fix anything? Damn, if only I knew what crystal was used to open the door or where the door _is_!

Aerrow-"...and after Piper trains you in balance by teaching you Sky Fu, we'll move on to the real thing. How's that sound?"

"uh, fantastic, I can do whatever you throw at me." Everybody went on with their conversation while I focused on cutting my spuds into bite size pieces.

_Come on, remember you have got to remember! There's that lotus shaped crystal that ends up being useless in the end anyway, clearly from the FarSide and how Cycloniss got the Terra in the air, and since that red glow was the same as the spider thingy on the Nightcrawlers chests the spiders must get their power from that...The crystal prison is from the FarSide, I have to stop Cycloniss from bringing it over, I have to warn the Sky_ _Knights!_

I rested my head on my right hand and started eating the miniscule pieces._  
_

_I thought the Nightcrawlers were from the FarSide? I saw a clip of Cycloniss entering and the Nightcrawlers with her following holding the lotus with her energy...So then Cycloniss gets them as allies somehow, sometime...She clearly gets the door first and then the key, I saw her use it to open the door but I didn't get to see the color of the crystal! Argh! I'm back in square one!_I pressed my fingertips to my temples. _Ugh...I feel a headache coming on..._

Piper-"So Starlight,"

"Yeah?" I said too loudly. "What?"

Piper-"I was thinking that we cloud work on crystals after you're done training with Aerrow,"

"Yeah that sounds great."

Aerrow-"It won't take much time at all to get you trained up and soon you'll be able to be into crystals full time."

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to that."

"Oh this is going to be so much fun! I can teach you everything I know, like crystal combinations and how to use the crystal staff!" I giggled. Maybe it'll relieve me of my mental turmoil.

* * *

"My room doubles as a crystal lab. We've used all the room in the lower decks for the Blacksmith shop and my Darkroom where I nurture and stabilize crystals. We'll get there but for now, let's go through the basics."

She hesatated at the door, her head tilting slightly towards me before opening the door.

"This is where I do all of my experiments..."

"Wow..." All around the room, in which ever crevice of room available, were crystals of every color imaginable shining brightly, even when the room is lit. And I could_ feel_ it, the power, the energy...it was _invigorating_! The best that I can explain it is that it felt as if all of my blood cells were alive, taking in information and sending it out to the rest of my body causing my skin to prickle, updating it's state every second.

"What do you think?'

"It's amazing, are you kidding?!" She chuckled. I moved closer to the boxes on top of her drawers. The red ones glowed a little brighter when I made my hand hover over.

"Those are boomers. You know, I think you'll be the first Sky Knight to be skilled in the field of Crystals too."

"Hasn't that been done before?" I asked her, with my hand moving up and down feeling the changes in the charge between me and the crystal.

"No, Crystal Mages are born with the talent, it's not often learned. Maybe one of my parents were a Crystal Mage, it would explain why I can do it."

"Your parents?" I think I read somewhere that they were from Terra Neverlandis. _All_ of them.

"Um, yeah everybody has parents right?" she shrugged.

"Anyway, some people can be taught to sense the charge but it takes years to do just that. Gundstaff is a researcher, he studies them and collects them but he can't work with them if they're unstable. That's where Crystal Specialists or Mages like me who double come in. We can stabilize raw crystals making them safe for anyone to handle."

"Wow..." I said, still looking around. I also got a glimpse of the maps pf the Black Gorge and the Cyclonian factory on Terra Gale taped to her wall at her bed.

"Wait, that's the floater!" Piper giggled.

"These are rare aren't they?" I said, making the crystal bob.

"In a way. They can only be found in Edmontia. We went there to assist in creating the Ice Grinder for the Blizzarrians."

"And these are the cloaking crystals," I bit my tongue. _Crap..._

"Heard of them?"

"I heard _Cycloniss_ has a bunch of them. In a mine. Terra Tundras, I uh hope you don't mind I had a look at your maps. They're great by the way, I don't doubt at all that they're accurate." She gave me a strange smile.

"That's not all I can do. Lock-picking, tactics, recon, planning...of which one has yet to be followed." I laughed.

"Yeah, I guessed the boys didn't get that sort of stuff. They're all about the action." Piper chuckled. _I guess her shell hardened, but she just needs time and then she'll open up to me..._

"So how much do you know about Crystals?"

"Well, since I only had like pages of a book and they weren't really descriptive not very much, I go by common sense. Boomers for example, they go boom when they're activated. And the floater crystal? From Edmontia since it's the only Terra in Atmos that creates rides and cruisers."

"Into aeronautics?"

"Common sense. To be honest crystals and sky fu are more interesting than fixing up rides since they engage all of your senses and tests your focus."

"I wish I had common sense when I put an explosion crystal with a slime crystal in the same incubator." She pointed to the little metal incubator I guessed was used to keep the crystals stable or something.

" You know, I would have done it on purpose to see how bad the result would be." We laughed.

"So you said Geyser crystals are your favorite, why?"

"They're shaped like stars. They're very pretty but they can be dangerous when they're not harmonized but useful when they are."

"Why don't you tell me which crystals you know and we'll work around that,"

"Um, let's see...there's the geyser, solaris, floater, boomer, icer, blizzard, the blocking crystal, the cloaking crystals, the chroma crystals...I think that's it..."

"Why only those?"

"They...stood out?"

"Mmm, here. I wrote it myself; It contains all of the crystals I've worked with and the parings I've made based on its science." I took the journal.

"Thanks," feeling excitement at learning something new.

"I'll be working on getting the blocking crystal stun to last longer. It's been weeks and no dice but I love a challenge."

"So you don't mind if I stick around here,?" I asked, taping the journal on my hand.

"Not at all, make your self at home."

"Thanks...and for being nice to me," she smiled and bobbed her head while lettingout a huff. I wonder what that reaction means. She sat on her stool and turned to the crystals on her desk. I guessed to see that a combination with one of those crystals would work. _Regenerative crystals! Cycloniss could have found out about it in the FarSide, that's gotta be it I mean it will obviously require complex technology and high degree crystals!_

I sat on her bed and made sure my feet were hanging off the side, getting myself comfortable to study. These are the only subjects that I would study for fun.

* * *

**Do you think Starlight can be trusted? I think I want the music in the Latuda commercial to be Starlight's theme. It shows her sadness, loneliness, pain but her spirit, energy, her _Starlight_...  
**

So vote:

1)continue STARLIGHT STARBRIGHT, the fan POV

2)begin STORM HAWKS Season Three aka **WELCOME,** a right-away continuation of season two. Starlight won't exist, someone else will. PLUs there will be a Season Four!

3) DO BOTH!

**So far there's one vote for no.3**


	10. Chapter 8 Training the Body

**For Finn. There's more to him, under that carefree demeanor.**

Chapter 8

There were sketches of the crystal and the Terra it was from and it's power, property, degree grade, and combos.

"So is this it, or is there more?"

Piper-"So far, but I'm always working on them. So, name two crystals that have a similar power and look alike,"

"Oh uh, blocking and paralyzer crystals!"

"Now two that don't look like each other,"

"Cloaking and chroma crystals. They both change the appearance of the user. And…the cloaking crystal can be confused with the shielding crystal, because of the names but the shielding crystals makes something appear invisible."

"Very good, now for a comprehension test,"

"I though that was the test?"

"Oh no, this will really test your mind as a crystal mage. Name a crystal combination using crystals that were not used or were, but using it differently."

"The floater and frost crystal. The frost crystal will create a blast of snow but conjoined with the floater crystal, instead of a blast the snow will fall like it normally would."

"Very good!" I smiled but a yawn was coming out.

"Awwww" She frowned.

"Did you have trouble sleeping?"

"No not at all, I'm totally fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Totally."

"Well that'll be all for today so turn in early."

"Sure." But I wasn't going to. I waved and skipped to the kitchen. I guess these guys don;tt eat dinner so I went to the kitchen to get another sand cake.

"Finn?!"

Finn-"Shh!" He urged around the big bite he had in his mouth, mounted on the counter to reach the tim untop of the fridge. I chuckled.

"Ah, I got hungry too." I wiped off some of the crumbs around his mouth and quickly took my hand back.

"Anyway, excuse me." I was gonna fish one out for myself but he hopped off with the tin and tipped it for easy access.

"Thanks."

"So Starlight, you're into crystals, how awesome."

"Yeah but th real test is wether or not I have the natural ability to be a Crystal Mage. What'cha been up to?"

Finn-"Nothin' uh just a-uh project,"

"Really, can I see?"

Finn-"No!"

"Oh why not?"

"Because it's not finished yet and it's a surprise."

"Oh…" I responded, still not getting it.

"So what are you gonna do now?"

"Um," I munched. "Well if Aerrow's up for more fighting then I guess I'll do that but I'm kind of tired, I thing I should just power down." I was thinking of doing some Bikram yoga and push ups, weigh lifting or something.

"Say, do you have any weights?"

Finn-"Weights?"

"Yeah, for lifting."

"Uh sure they're in my room but whadda ya need them for?"

"Lifting. I need to build up strength."

"But you're a girl…?"

"So?"

"So, shouldn't you and Piper be braiding each others hair or somethin'" I quirked an eyebrow.

"No Finn, Piper's busy with her experiments and I should really get back to training."

"Agh all this talk about training has got me tired." He hung his arm around my neck. "Relax Starlight, when the Cyclonians show I'll protect you."

"Oh I think I'll be doing the saving seeing as your skimmer doesn't really make it in one piece." I laughed but, I don't have a skimmer…?

"Eh-heh well it's a sacrafice I have to make…"

"So about your weights?"

"Yeah, I'll show you the way to the man cave…" He waved his arm and finished off his cake. I gobbled mine up and followed._ I've never been to a boy's room…._

"Welcome…you know besides Piper, you're the only girl who's ever been in here."

"Hard to say why…" I said sarcastically. It was a mess, with dirty laundry all over! There was a bunk bed, and I guessed Junko slept on the lower bunk because it was bigger and there was just a mattress. _Maybe Junko broke through the base..._There was the poster of "The Musical Stylings of Finn" the " THE ULTIMATE MIGHTY MEGA MASHER!", as well as the poster of the Cyclonian rollercoaster.

"Finn, why do you still have this? I thought we established that the Storm Hawks are awesome."

"We are, I just think that…this thing just looks so cool!"

"Heh, do they have extreme coasters like that on Terra Neon?"

"Yea-heah! Junko and I rode almost all of them. How 'bout you?"

"I never been but I read their twenty-four buffets are good,"

"We should totally take you some time! Anyway here's what'cha asked for,"

"Thanks Finn."

"Not a problem, if ya need anything, you know where I am…"

"Heh, sure." I made to walk out.

"Hey, I wanted to ask why your name is Starlight?"

"I-uh don't know. Maybe it was a starry night when I was found."

"Oh…"

"Yeah…later Finn!" I felt bad I had to lie, Finn seemed innocent I mean he was but someone actually all of the Storm Hawks were the kind of people who shouldn't be decieved or lied to because they don't deserve it. _And after what Lark did…I'm going to be in a whole heap of trouble!_

I found out that there wasn't much room in Star-arling's room to work out in so I decided to go to the hanger. I think there was a bar to do pull ups on.

"Hey Stork,"

Stork-"Oh. It's you."

" . So what's the course?"

"Oh just going from Terra to Terra, making friends with the squadrons."

"The mission given by the council members on Atmosia?"

"And how would you, know about that?"

"I don't, I wouldn't. If anyone asks I'm at the lower decks." He shrugged and went back to driving.

"We'll be landing into a cave for the night."

"What Terra are we on?"

"Amazonia."

I went int othe lower decks,said hello to Junko who was hiding the piece of metal he was manipulating. Like I could what it is, was, or going to be. I did some push ups, I managed to do one pull up, and I did some weight liftng and some Bikram moves that regured I lift all of my body wieght, blancing... stuff I would need to train my body in for Sky Fu on the wings of a bi-plane. I will be in combat at some point. It was fun, traveling, the missions and stuff I'm sure but…I knew that I'd need this. I'd rather learn the safe way than the hard way. I'm pretty sure I'd die of a heart attack.

I thought of the Dark Ace. Never lost a skyduel huh? He'd make a great teacher, and Cycloniss a mentor in crystals.

Using the map I memorized into my head, if we were in Terra Amazonia then we were close to Cyclonia._ We'll get attacked in no time. Phase one of my plan can be set into action. Making new friends else where.._

My STORM HAWKS moments a few days ago in one day.

1) I saw a toilet stting on the curb. In public, Remember episode Gale Force Winds? I think it was the 3rd episode.

2)I found dark brown, knee high boots that can be used for Starling and Piper. (Nine West vintage America collection) They originally cost over $100, but my gracious mother bought them for me for $34 in DSW.

3)In Target I passed by these cookies called "Sandies" and immediately thought of Piper's sandcakes. It tastes like what I always thought her cakes would taste like. I believe they're scones.

4)My nails are painted Starling purple. If NerdCorps came out with a nail polish line, would you buy it?

5)The many girls I've walked past with purple hair. One day I'll dye mine purple, then blue, fuchsia, all of the Storm Hawks colors! All to say that that day is the best day of the year so far! Except for the days I wake up too with losts of alerts and reviews from fanfiction!


	11. Chapter 9 Conserving Warmth

**For Aerrow, Piper, Finn, Junko, Stork, Cycloniss, and the Dark Ace. Everyone deserves a family. Everyone.**

Chapter 9

I didn't allow myself to sleep again. I have been awake for thiryty two hours now. So that my body didn't think to rest, I kept moving around, I grabbed ate a chunck of cheese in the middle of the night, and reviewed Piper's journal. I already knew it by heart so all that was left for me to do was walk around the Condor, jog in place, and make trips to the bathroom to dunk my head in ice water. I also stretched my muscles to avoid any more pain.

_Ugh….I can't sleep, I can't!_

Screw it, I'm going to practice attacking without stopping. I went down to the lower decks and took the twin blades with me to the small landing strip jutting out from the bay and repair area. Which reminds me, _Ask Finn for a crash course in fixing an engine on the fly…mmm, maybe I can score a Talon Switchblade in an attack. I'm going to be doing a lot of __traveling..._

I swung at the air and follwed through but turned and swung again and again and again over and over, never stopping, always following through. A Talon would expect me to swing the other way. They do. I stopped when I heard soft steps on the metal of the strip. They were soft, i just practiced detecting the slightest of sounds. For fun. I threw a blade to spot I thought the person was. Still in my launching position, I saw it was Aerrow. He dogded it by turning to the side.

"Woah! That was great!"

"Aerrow! I'm sorry, I didn' t see you there,"

"Actually I'd say you had eyes behind your head. Isn't it a bit early to up?" I quirked eyebrow.

"Ha, yeah I guess I'm up too."

"But your body seems to be awake. I can't wait 'till I'm fit and ready like that."

"Sure but your body needs it's rest. Why aren't you asleep still?"

"I-uh, I took a nap in the afternoon." I don't think he bought it but the timeline worked, sort of. He was infront of me now, looking intently at my eyes. At the dark circles and bags under them.

"You don't look okay. Listen Starlight, if you want us to help you look for your past or give you what you need to do it yourself, don't hesitate to ask."

"Is that what you think is keeping me awake?"

"Isn't it? I've had some sleepless nights because of it."

"My past?" I asked. _Why would he…?_

"Not exactly. Your experience is similar to mine." I listened intently. I never knew what the story was, of how the gang got together.

"But you have everybody…"

"Yeah, they're the only family I've ever known and we sort of adopted Junko. He wasn't friends with us in the beginning." _Orphans!_

"Oh, I always thought you guys were friends since diapers…"

"Since we were four. It was fourteen years from the first battle of the rising sky knights. The last Storm Hawks were lost after ten." My head quickly did the math. Twenty four years, the last Storm Hawks died when they were four, Dark Ace was roughly eighteen when he fought in their last battle so he's pushing thirty...

"During that time, Master Cycloniss, uh the current Master's mother, was still conquering Terras. All of ours were of the fallen. Terra Nimbus, Terra Wallop, Merbia, Amazonia…" He shook his head.

"We ran and ended up in Neverlandis, coincidentally. Heh, we called it Neverlandis, it was just an uncharted Terra. It was under attack too but not by Talons, by the Cyclonian Youth Brigade. They were just a bunch of bullies really. Junko was a member but he never hurt anyone. We told him he could be part of the team if he helped us stop them. When I was given a scroll by three guardians, we all went together to find the Condor that apparently survived the fall. There we found Stork who lived there for years, and fixed it up adding a few touches of his own. He just wanted to drive and we had the key…we made a trade and stuck together ever since."

"Wow…" I breathed. "What else about the guardians?"

"There were three and all they said was that I was the descendent of the lightning strike and that following the map that led to the Condor was my destiny. I guessed we were given the mission of the last Storm Hawks. To stop Cycloniss and end the war. I suppose Cycloniss is an orphan too…"

"You know that Cycloniss isn't any different from us…" _That red haired man has to be his father!_

"She's still trying to take over the Atmos and we can't let that happen." _Gah! Did he make the connection? Deos he suspect that Dark Ace killed his father?!_

"Of course not." I immediately agreed. _He doesn't, otherwise the war would be dual sided. _"But being alone doesn't bother me…I believe that you can choose your family…" Mine weren't nice at all. That's why I wished to be in this world so bad.

"Aren't you curious about your roots?"

"No. I think I don't remember for a reason, to-uh maintain an unbiased outlook on the whole thing, the 'why am I here for'…" _Was I here to aid them and help them win the war? Was Aerrow meant to win the war for Atmos instead of revenge and avenging his __father?_

We looked at each other with shared pain of the uncertainty. _He must be meant to win the war for everyone…that's the right way to do it, and the same reason why the Storm Hawks fought with the SkyKnight squadrons behind them__…_I had to look away because we were staring into each others eyes for too long and I read that if you did it long enough, you would indeed fall in love.

"Uh- I think it's time for breakfast…" I said, looking up at the now blue sky.

"Oh right, and then we train after," He said just as awkwardly. We walked inside with some distance between us and I jumped when I saw Piper in the bow, looking out at the semi circle view of the cliffs of Amazonia, which also included the landing strip Aerrow and I were on.

"Piper, what are you doing up?" Stork shuffled to the helm with a bun in his hand, mumbling "Top of the morning…" sarcastically. I think I was begining to love him…and appreciate him in a different way.

"I was going to start breakfast. Starlight," _She must be the one who cooks since it requires the use of cooking crystals…._

"Morning Piper," _She seems a bit…off. _"I can give you your journal back now. I memorized it comepletely now."

"MM-kay," She said a little more chipper. _Maybe what was bothering her doesn't bother her anymore. Seeing me with Aerrow?_

"We'll practice some Tai Chi to awaken your natural energy, before we see if you were born with the ability when we start working with crystals together." This time she smiled a little.

"That sounds perfect! It'll be a great cool down from training with Aerrow!" We laughed. She was understanding I was serious about training in all of the fields even if it wasn't common to excel in two simultaneously on a master level.

Aerrow-"I'll get breakfast going. What do you guys think of eggs?" Or maybe I was wrong.

"You can cook?" I asked in disbelief.

"I've had practice," He admitted walking into the kitchen. _Gotta love a guy who can cook._

Piper-"I'm going to update our squadron log. I'll be back to plan a course with Stork,"

Stork-"Take your time…" Piper skipped out. Leaving me alone with the merb. I looked at his strange feet for a bit with my hands on my hips, relying on one leg, when I decided they looked normal.

"So Finn, Junko, and Radarr are sleeping in?"

"Or maybe they slipped into a coma in their sleep." He said with a straight face. I smirked.

"I don't think that's even possible." _Is it? I never wondered enough to look..._

"Possibly…" He said looking at me. My smirk was already off of my face. "I'd wake them up just in case."

"When breakfast is almost ready. They been working on something in the repair area really hard lately…"

In Aerrow's room, Radarr was curled on Aerrow's pillow. I saw a pet, but I saw a person too. I smiled. Only in Atmos do different species mingle. In Finn and Junko's room, they were fast asleep in there beds. I leaned on the door frame. _Aerrow was a ponderer, he thought back to his past from time to time…Do you do that too Finn? How do you deal with it? Any of you?_

I pushed away and walked towards the kitchen looking at the roundish hallway feeling the spirits of the last Storm Hawks.

_Not even a proper burial__…_I thought for a second that it was best to know where all of your enemies are, seeing the Dark Ace changing uniforms inside a flame. _Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer..._

**AN: How was this ****one? Still with me Stardust? BTW I was referring to the intro of the shows when describing the Dark Ace a sentence ago.**

**The chapter title refers to conserving the warmth that you get from family given the situation.**


	12. Chapter 10 Plans

**For Starlight.**

Chapter 10

I pushed away from the diir frame because I needed to rub my eyes._ Ugh, I've been awake for almost forty eight hours..._

"Hargh…!" I yawned._ No! _I slapped myself_, you can do this! _The blear returned and I tried to rub it away on my way over to the kitchen. A detour to the bathroom first though to wash my face. Cold water, soap, and towel but I wasn't going to last…I'll do my best to stay awake…At the door I saw Aerrow turn off the pilot on the stove.

"Too late to offer my help?"

"Nah don't worry about it. I'll be right back, Piper always tastes them."

"That's so sweet. I'll set the table," He left the kitchen with a fork and a speared piece of egg. I quickly set the table and ran to Finn and Junko's room. They were still sound asleep so how do I wake them up? _Junko needs to be woken up, otherwise he'll sleep for possibly twenty hours__…_I thought, remembering the experiemnt he filmed. _Hmmm..._

"Breakfast time!…I said 'Breakfast Time!'" _Hmmmm, maybe they need visual…smells can can help someone __visualize what is infront of them__…_I ran back to the kitchen to sneak out the pot. It was still hot and it smelled and looked heavenly….! I scooped some with the spoon and put it under Junko's nose. And just like in the cartoons, his nose moved up and around to catch all of the particles befoe waking up with a giant sleeply smile on his face.

"Morning Junko!"

"Hey….are those eggs?" I heard a sleepy Finn moan.

Junko-"Hiya Finn,"

"Morning,"

"Hey morning buddy, Starlight?" Oh geez, Finn was in his underwear!

Finn-"Oh!" I quickly turned away. _Man, if I can see more Aerrow's creamy skin, I'm set __heaven! _I shook my head.

"Just came to wake you guys up 'cause it's breakfast time…" And quickly got out of there. _Holy massive shit on a turn pike, you're a pedophile!_ I groaned. On earth, I'm eighteen so yeah…but the laws are different here right? _Shut up. Shut. Up._

Aerrow-"Oh thank goodness Starlight has them. I was worried that Junko and had gotten into them."

"Nope, they just wouldn't have woken up otherwise. You really can get into a mans heart through his stomach," _Fascinating..._

Aerrow-"Er, yeah…?" he admitted awkwardly. _Take notice Piper._ Finn and Junko joined us with a big yawn and hopping to pull his boots on.

"I'll get the orange slices." since juicing oranges would take forever and a lot of the orange would go to waste, I peeled them and separated the sections. With a bite, it's like a burst of OJ. The oranges looked normal here, but I've been poking a large blackberry from time to time. _What does it taste like? _It wasn't a blackberry, it just like one on steroids.

Piper-"So Aerrow, since you're going to show Starlight Sky Fu on the fly, I thought that we could do a conjoined lesson."

Aerrow-"That's a great idea."

"On the fly?" I saw wings.

* * *

Breakfast was fantastic! Just goes to show how much of a tomboy I am. Aerrow has already found the way to my heart!

"Let's do it here,"

"On the landing strip?" The wind blew my hair around.

"It's so that you get used to the wind. You're perfectly safe."

"I know _tha_t." The strip was wde enough, more than wide enough.

"Okay, now let's start with the zen morning sunrise." She taught me the moves and we did them together, side by side, slow and controlled movements on the landing strip. I yawned a few tims, I hoped that I did muffle them by keeping my mouth closed but I think she heard_ something_. After some time, I was doing it in time with her.

"Very good Starlight," I smiled. It was very calming. Maybe a little too calming. I closed my eyes as I balanced on one foot, my arms out stretched. The wind blew through me and under my arms. I felt like I was flying. I brought my leg up from behind and did my best to bend my back backwards. _I have got to test out my flexibility._

"Now, whether or not you naturally have an energy charge it takes a while to get it to fully awaken and have your body ready to accept, hone and nurture the energy from crystals. So let's test it's flow by making you do some strength excersise. The flow can't be choppy, it's difficult then."

I bent at the side until my hand touched the floor. I was a little scared to do the handstand because I never had before. But I'll do what I've always done. Pretend I can do it, like when I did a front flip instead of a cartwheel by accident. And…I felt safe with Piper having her hands close to my lower back. It gave me the incentive to hold my position. I was heavy and I could crush her.

"Good, you're a little shaky…breath in and out," I tittered but I managed to find the places in my body that I could lock so I didn't shake or feel like my arms were going to give out, and bent my neck back to open my airways further and get more oxygen.

"We're going to go slow. Now follow through, a cartwheel." I imagined myself as spaghetti.

"MM-hmm, now bend backwards slowly," I had to tighten my ab muscles halfway down to slow down.

"Can you go into a handstand from here?" I lifted a leg towards my chest and pushed, not with my mind, I wasn't consciously telling my body to tell my muscles to push, I stretching my energy flow. And I did feel it, it's how I was balanced, the flow was constant throughout my body instead of it sloshing inside me. I doing a combination of a handstand and split until I closed my legs like scissors and got back onto a handstand. I still wobbled slightly, I was still new to this and Piper never left my side.

"That's fantastic!"

"Heh-engh" I chuckled.

"I can tell you have more energy than an average beginner would,"

"Yeah?" I grunted.

"Let me see how soon we can get to the part!"

"You mean this wasn't it?" _Damn this is like extreme pilates!_

"Bend your elbows and push your chest forward. Let your hip bone rest on your elbows." I did what she said but it was hard to balance like that when there was more weight on one side than the other because of my legs. My muscles protested and the flow was starting to get choppy. I opted to spread my legs so the weight was spread horizontally. It was much more comfortable.

"Very good! I wish Finn was this much fun to teach,"

"You mean he isn't?" I shifted, putting my knees on my elbows like a floating child's pose. "Hey Piper, how long do I have to hold?"

"Oh, right now. You're great," I sighed. _Wow, I had no idea my body could that!_

Aerrow-"My turn,"

Piper-"Aerrow!"

"Hey," I huffed getting off the floor. I rubbed my eyes feigning to wipe off sweat, but my eyes felt cloudy even though I could see. Aerrow got on his skimmer and dove it mid strip and popped the wings out.

"Now for balancing on the wings," Piper stood off to the side with her hands on her hips watching expectantly. _I can do this,_

"Don't suddenly take off okay," I joked.

"Not today." _Yeah, I can do this. _

I jumped on, pushing off the ground and turning, landing in a low crouch, something I practiced doing a lot before. The skimmer didn't move, there was just the sound of metal. I stomped my feet to test the sturdiness of the point of the wing. It was actually wide enough for two people to battle on the wing closer to the coup, but at the point there was only room for one foot to avoid falling over. I got into my natural fighting stance.

"Let's do this,"

Aerrow-"Ha,"

He jumped on the head while I stood my ground. _Watch his moves, he'll first try to push you over the edge. And you'll be expected to avoid that._

He didn't hesitate to jump into immediate action. He swung and jabbed. I parried and attacked, like an opponet would expect.

_Man I feel congested, and my head is still throbbing from being upside down before._

I had to keep my feet in their place and doge. He swept his leg but I propelled myself behind him by leap frog-ing over him, using his sholders for height. He was on his feet again and my heel met his knee when I landed,

"Huegh!"and he fell on his back only his upper body hung over the wing. I bent my right leg to hug the wing so I could grab Aerro's shirt at the chest to keep him from slipping off. Piper did her throaty chuckle.

"Dagh!" I pushed on my left leg and pulled him towards me so he was sitting and me too with my other leg hanging.

"This is when you'd use your Sky Knight move,"

"Yep."

"Then I'd be toast,"

Piper-"I wouldn't worry, the Talons are easy,"

"And the Dark Ace?" They shared a look.

Aerrow-"You plan on fighting the Dark Ace?"

"Sometimes things don't happen according to plan." I shrugged, biting off another yawn.

**AN: So we hit the double digits! Let's celebrate with lots of reviews!**


	13. Chapter 10 Finn

**For Starlight.**

Chapter 10

I pushed away from the diir frame because I needed to rub my eyes._ Ugh, I've been awake for almost forty eight hours..._

"Hargh…!" I yawned._ No! _I slapped myself_, you can do this! _The blear returned and I tried to rub it away on my way over to the kitchen. A detour to the bathroom first though to wash my face. Cold water, soap, and towel but I wasn't going to last…I'll do my best to stay awake…At the door I saw Aerrow turn off the pilot on the stove.

"Too late to offer my help?"

"Nah don't worry about it. I'll be right back, Piper always tastes them."

"That's so sweet. I'll set the table," He left the kitchen with a fork and a speared piece of egg. I quickly set the table and ran to Finn and Junko's room. They were still sound asleep so how do I wake them up? _Junko needs to be woken up, otherwise he'll sleep for possibly twenty hours__…_I thought, remembering the experiemnt he filmed. _Hmmm..._

"Breakfast time!…I said 'Breakfast Time!'" _Hmmmm, maybe they need visual…smells can can help someone __visualize what is infront of them__…_I ran back to the kitchen to sneak out the pot. It was still hot and it smelled and looked heavenly….! I scooped some with the spoon and put it under Junko's nose. And just like in the cartoons, his nose moved up and around to catch all of the particles befoe waking up with a giant sleeply smile on his face.

"Morning Junko!"

"Hey….are those eggs?" I heard a sleepy Finn moan.

Junko-"Hiya Finn,"

"Morning,"

"Hey morning buddy, Starlight?" Oh geez, Finn was in his underwear!

Finn-"Oh!" I quickly turned away. _Man, if I can see more Aerrow's creamy skin, I'm set __heaven! _I shook my head.

"Just came to wake you guys up 'cause it's breakfast time…" And quickly got out of there. _Holy massive shit on a turn pike, you're a pedophile!_ I groaned. On earth, I'm eighteen so yeah…but the laws are different here right? _Shut up. Shut. Up._

Aerrow-"Oh thank goodness Starlight has them. I was worried that Junko and had gotten into them."

"Nope, they just wouldn't have woken up otherwise. You really can get into a mans heart through his stomach," _Fascinating..._

Aerrow-"Er, yeah…?" he admitted awkwardly. _Take notice Piper._ Finn and Junko joined us with a big yawn and hopping to pull his boots on.

"I'll get the orange slices." since juicing oranges would take forever and a lot of the orange would go to waste, I peeled them and separated the sections. With a bite, it's like a burst of OJ. The oranges looked normal here, but I've been poking a large blackberry from time to time. _What does it taste like? _It wasn't a blackberry, it just like one on steroids.

Piper-"So Aerrow, since you're going to show Starlight Sky Fu on the fly, I thought that we could do a conjoined lesson."

Aerrow-"That's a great idea."

"On the fly?" I saw wings.

* * *

Breakfast was fantastic! Just goes to show how much of a tomboy I am. Aerrow has already found the way to my heart!

"Let's do it here,"

"On the landing strip?" The wind blew my hair around.

"It's so that you get used to the wind. You're perfectly safe."

"I know _tha_t." The strip was wde enough, more than wide enough.

"Okay, now let's start with the zen morning sunrise." She taught me the moves and we did them together, side by side, slow and controlled movements on the landing strip. I yawned a few tims, I hoped that I did muffle them by keeping my mouth closed but I think she heard_ something_. After some time, I was doing it in time with her.

"Very good Starlight," I smiled. It was very calming. Maybe a little too calming. I closed my eyes as I balanced on one foot, my arms out stretched. The wind blew through me and under my arms. I felt like I was flying. I brought my leg up from behind and did my best to bend my back backwards. _I have got to test out my flexibility._

"Now, whether or not you naturally have an energy charge it takes a while to get it to fully awaken and have your body ready to accept, hone and nurture the energy from crystals. So let's test it's flow by making you do some strength excersise. The flow can't be choppy, it's difficult then."

I bent at the side until my hand touched the floor. I was a little scared to do the handstand because I never had before. But I'll do what I've always done. Pretend I can do it, like when I did a front flip instead of a cartwheel by accident. And…I felt safe with Piper having her hands close to my lower back. It gave me the incentive to hold my position. I was heavy and I could crush her.

"Good, you're a little shaky…breath in and out," I tittered but I managed to find the places in my body that I could lock so I didn't shake or feel like my arms were going to give out, and bent my neck back to open my airways further and get more oxygen.

"We're going to go slow. Now follow through, a cartwheel." I imagined myself as spaghetti.

"MM-hmm, now bend backwards slowly," I had to tighten my ab muscles halfway down to slow down.

"Can you go into a handstand from here?" I lifted a leg towards my chest and pushed, not with my mind, I wasn't consciously telling my body to tell my muscles to push, I stretching my energy flow. And I did feel it, it's how I was balanced, the flow was constant throughout my body instead of it sloshing inside me. I doing a combination of a handstand and split until I closed my legs like scissors and got back onto a handstand. I still wobbled slightly, I was still new to this and Piper never left my side.

"That's fantastic!"

"Heh-engh" I chuckled.

"I can tell you have more energy than an average beginner would,"

"Yeah?" I grunted.

"Let me see how soon we can get to the part!"

"You mean this wasn't it?" _Damn this is like extreme pilates!_

"Bend your elbows and push your chest forward. Let your hip bone rest on your elbows." I did what she said but it was hard to balance like that when there was more weight on one side than the other because of my legs. My muscles protested and the flow was starting to get choppy. I opted to spread my legs so the weight was spread horizontally. It was much more comfortable.

"Very good! I wish Finn was this much fun to teach,"

"You mean he isn't?" I shifted, putting my knees on my elbows like a floating child's pose. "Hey Piper, how long do I have to hold?"

"Oh, right now. You're great," I sighed. _Wow, I had no idea my body could that!_

Aerrow-"My turn,"

Piper-"Aerrow!"

"Hey," I huffed getting off the floor. I rubbed my eyes feigning to wipe off sweat, but my eyes felt cloudy even though I could see. Aerrow got on his skimmer and dove it mid strip and popped the wings out.

"Now for balancing on the wings," Piper stood off to the side with her hands on her hips watching expectantly. _I can do this,_

"Don't suddenly take off okay," I joked.

"Not today." _Yeah, I can do this. _

I jumped on, pushing off the ground and turning, landing in a low crouch, something I practiced doing a lot before. The skimmer didn't move, there was just the sound of metal. I stomped my feet to test the sturdiness of the point of the wing. It was actually wide enough for two people to battle on the wing closer to the coup, but at the point there was only room for one foot to avoid falling over. I got into my natural fighting stance.

"Let's do this,"

Aerrow-"Ha,"

He jumped on the head while I stood my ground. _Watch his moves, he'll first try to push you over the edge. And you'll be expected to avoid that._

He didn't hesitate to jump into immediate action. He swung and jabbed. I parried and attacked, like an opponet would expect.

_Man I feel congested, and my head is still throbbing from being upside down before._

I had to keep my feet in their place and doge. He swept his leg but I propelled myself behind him by leap frog-ing over him, using his sholders for height. He was on his feet again and my heel met his knee when I landed,

"Huegh!"and he fell on his back only his upper body hung over the wing. I bent my right leg to hug the wing so I could grab Aerro's shirt at the chest to keep him from slipping off. Piper did her throaty chuckle.

"Dagh!" I pushed on my left leg and pulled him towards me so he was sitting and me too with my other leg hanging.

"This is when you'd use your Sky Knight move,"

"Yep."

"Then I'd be toast,"

Piper-"I wouldn't worry, the Talons are easy,"

"And the Dark Ace?" They shared a look.

Aerrow-"You plan on fighting the Dark Ace?"

"Sometimes things don't happen according to plan." I shrugged, biting off another yawn.

**AN: So we hit the double digits! Let's celebrate with lots of reviews!**


	14. Chapter 11 Time passes

**For Finn. For voice actors and animation companies like NerdCorps. You guys give us comic relief from our harsh realities and not so harsh ones. THANK YOU. thank you.**

Chapter 10

Aerrow-"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, totally." I probably looked like I was about to hurl with cheeks puffed up from keeping the air from coming out.

Piper-"Have fun!" _Sure, god my body…_

Aerrow-"Up for another round before lunch?"_ Ungh, my worn out body is making me feel sleepier…_

"Uh huh,"

We got up on our ends, he attacked like he would if he just landed and I parried. I would doge but it was getting harder to get up and my yawns were more constant.

"Come on Starlight, hit me like you mean it," He said when I would try to hit but missed and was slow to react to that with another 'quick' attack. My arms weren't even lock and even if I did hit they wouldn't have hurt much.

"Neah!" I kicked my leg up infront of me, he backflipped into a crouch then charged to my stomach sending me flying to the seat and he stood above me with his blade pointing at me.

"Geargh!" I didn't get up as fast as I could have. _I feel so drained and I'm beginning to succumb to sleep._

"Are you-?"

"Fine!" I sighed. He helped me up gently.

"What?" I asked when he was looking at my eyes."

"N-nothing." and let go. I walked ahead into the bow where Finn and Junko were arguing about…you know I don't even knoew what just…give me the bathroom...

I walked in, keeping eye contact with myself in the mirror. My eyes were puffy, sunken and the eyelids were dark. I sighed and washed my face with cold water for the umpteenth time.

Finn-"Woah you kinda look like Stork," he said pointing to Stork.

Stork-"Hmm?" Then he shrugged and turned away because he could care less. I sat down sideways and Radarr placed half a chicken on my plate. I couldn't even smile in thanks. I rested my head in my hand.

Piper-"Not that I agree with _Finn_," Finn took a bite out of the chicken leg. _You know, that doesn't look appetizing at all..._

"But you look ill," Junko looked back and forth around at everyone involved in the conversation.

Aerrow-"Did you sleep," He didn't ask, he already knew. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. _God, I'm so tired..._

Aerrow-"Go to sleep Starlight, that's an order." I forced my eyes open. _Oh no, he ordered me to sleep and now my body can't resist! Argh!_

"No," I gasped. My head wouldn't get off my hand.

Aerrow-"You could barely fight me before. You need some serious sleep." _No no no! I'll be sent back!_ I fought my body not to listen, to retort, and open it's eyes!

"I'm fine." but it came out as a yawn. He came to help me up and let me recline on him but I was resisting, however feebly. Piper didn't try, I bet she knew I wasn't going to go with her but I wouldn't have fought. I'm too heavy for her.

Finn-"I'll do it." He said rather guiltily. I already lost control of my body so I let him sling my upper body over his shoulder.

Junko-"I can help buddy,"

"Nah, I've got her." He picked the rest of me off of the seat with a huff and slowyl walked towards my room, holding me tightly.

Aerrow-"She hasn't slept in forty hours,"

Piper-"She'll be fine."

_A guy is carrying me…Finn isn't Aerrow but he…smells sweet__…_I vaguely heard the hiss of the door opening.

"You're not as heavy as you look, I mean you're really light." I frowned. He set me down lightly, _very_ lightly, on the bed._ I just remembered that I was never this close to a boy before…Wasn't I thinking about something like that before? And he's hovering over me…fighting doesn't count..._

"There, you're good." He lifted my legs over on top.

"I'm really sorry about putting you on the spot back there, that-that wasn't cool." _He's apologizing?_

"S'kay," I mumbled.

"So uh, what's the deal with you and sleep?"

"It's, I don't think it's a good idea for me."

"You should see Junko, he once slept for seventeen hours!" I chuckled. I felt the bed sink beside my legs.

"And we tried everything, and I mean EVERYTHING!"

"Mmm hmm."

"I guess you tried everything to stay awake, I mean forty hours?"

"Just water and studying crystals."

"But what I don't get is, why?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Mergh, everyone says that .'Don't worry about it' they say but I do anyway because I care but not telling me isn't letting me care. I _want_ to know what's wrong, I can handle it!" He grumbled. _:( ?_

"Finn…I…" I pushed myself up and leaned on his back wrapping an arm around his waist.

"You're so sweet, the best. That's why, we don't want to lose that."

"What do you mean?"

"The world isn't pretty, mine isn't. That's why I'm here. Here is like a dream, it's everything I ever wanted. Family, friends, fun…It seems too good to be true and I'm afraid that if I fall asleep…you're part of the reason that makes the world better,"

_You're not so great on the electric guitar- _

"You're funny, warm…" He was, and he smelled like glaze.

"You're Finn. We all need you. It's not that we think you're not strong enough."

"You're scared?"

"Yeah," I said around the lump in my throat. He wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Thanks…Starlight…" _He's surprised? _I looked at him with wide eyes.

"Uh, you should sleep-" I begged silently.

"I'll stay right here. It's what I do best right?"

"Being there. Yeah, the best." I slumped forward and slept on him because he was closer than the bed. I only remember his accurate hands stroking my hair. _He's a sharp-shooter all right, his arrow went clean through my heart. Clean._


	15. Chapter 12 Airborne

**For freedom.  
**

Chapter 12

_An arrow straight through my heart. Clean._ Maybe my heart is still soft and warm and 'not normal' was just in my head.

My head, well brain, felt heavy. I kept breathing in and out until I finally pin pointed what this nice relaxing feeling was. I shot up in my bed.

I let out a sigh of relief when I saw that the walls were purple and I was still here.

_Thank god...Where's Finn? _I left the room combing my hair with my fingers, I never used a brush, twisting weirdly to get the kinks out of my back. Everybody was in the bow doing their own thing.

Finn:"Starlight!" I was going to check up on you," I smiled and yawned into my hand happily.

Aerrow:"Better?"

"Great but, how long was I out?" The sun looked to be in the same position in the sky as when I fell asleep.

Piper:"Well uh, it's the afternoon about fourteen hours since yesterday..." _No way..._

"I was asleep for a _whole_ day?! Why didn't you wake me up?!"

Aerrow:"Because you clearly needed it." I groaned, rubbing my my face.

Finn:"Totally."

Piper;"We saved you some breakfast if you're hungry?" By the way my stomach growled, you'd think it came from Junko.

"I think I'll have lunch too," They chuckled.

"I'm going to get fueled up, be ready Aerrow."

"Maybe you should take a nap?"

"No way, I might slip into a coma."

"Stork, what have you been telling her?" Stork smirked mischievously.

Finn and Junko wen to work on their project in the hanger, while Piper went to get the crystals I was allowed to work with at this point in my training and I went to the kitchen. I ate the sweet rice pudding and half chicken from yesterday.

* * *

The wings on Aerrow's skimmer were still out and Aerrow was stretching.

Finn:"Starlight, about last night-" I gripped his shoulder.

"Thank you,"

"Sure."

I used the wings to stretch my limbs and as support when I practiced my hand stand. I knew I was going to be able to do it on my own soon.

I threw some kicks and punches to wake my muscles up when I decided to try doing a front flip. I bent over, pushed off my toes and allowed the momentum pull me upright again. I tittered a little, _I'm gonna work on this on the wings so my body memorizes it._

Aerrow:"Ready?"

"Always."

This training session proved that I've gotten better. Aerrow was sweating and neither us us had made a hit.

"Whoa, I'm beat!"

"Seriously?" I was still pumped.

"Seriously? Piper, a little help?"

"I'll be happy too."

We moved to the landing strip so that the energy blasts from the crystals hit the inside of the hanger. She tossed my some Icers and I put them into the hilt of my blades. She explained to always have loose crystals, crystals not occupied in a weapon, in case I didn't have a weapon on me. She promised to help me collect my arsenal.

It's harder to fight someone with a staff; your attacks can be blocked easier and faster but the fact that she has to hit me from a distance made up for that disadvantage. I was a little wary about getting hit with an energy blast but pretended it was doge ball._ If you can doge a wrench, you doge a ball. _I swore to get hit on purpose so I knew what to expect when it happened again.

Because we were evenly matched, we didn't get anywhere. We laughed when we dropped everything and went at it. She did not hold back in hand to hand combat. I didn't like her throwing me around or over her shoulder so I did what I could. Pin her down and tickle her.

"I'll set up some dummies so can practice throwing their weight around," she promised after catching her breath.

We cooled down with Tai Chi before going to a sandwich lunch. Afterwards I went back downstairs to practice doing flips. I didn't do them successfully everything but I wasn't afraid of falling anymore and I saw that as progress. I practiced on the skimmer to work on my landing if I flipped on it.

I was fighting a phantom, throwing myself onto the ground, rolling over my shoulder when Finn came down.

"Remind me to take you to an 'The Ultimate Mighty Mega Masher' match,"

"Save the date,"

"Aerrow said it's bed time," My happiness plummeted.

"I guess that includes me too huh?" I put the blades back in their place, slower than necessary. Finn wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"Welcome to the team," I rolled my eyes. I was less nervous about going to sleep but I wasn't willing either.

"I'll stay with you tonight if you want?" I was a grown girl, I should sleep on my own...

"Yeah,"

I insisted that we share the bed. Being sandwiched between him and the wall made me feel safe.

* * *

In the morning Finn was gone but smiled at me at breakfast. I wondered if anyone noticed he was sleeping not with me but in my room but they didn't let on.

For the next few weeks I trained with Aerrow using powered blades. We practiced n the wings of his skimmer but he decided to change it up a bit. Radarr was maintaining the skimmer steady a few feet off the ground. _I've fallen from that height before, I can do this and I'd have a parachute pack on my back if I was higher._

Everyone watched us and cheered both sides, including Stork, and as the days went by the altitude was higher. The wind didn't make me feel unsteady on my feet. I felt free. _I am free_ I thought in amazement. Free from what I used to be.

With Piper we went from Crystal Combat to Nurturing Crystals in her darkroom.

"There's not much else I can teach you. You've got the skills, use them." It was more fulfilling than graduation high school.

Piper did make the dummies, as she promised, and Junko hung them up in the hanger for us. She stood by and coached me for two days before offering herself as a guinea pig. Finn and Aerrow were a little too interested.

By then I wasn't afraid of bed time.

"Finn, uh thanks for uh sleeping with me, it helped _a lot_ but I think- I think I'm ready to sleep alone now," I really hoped he wasn't hurt...

"Oh uh okay, glad I could uh help,"

"Thanks." I gave him a hug in front of my door and went inside. It was the first, and he was the only one, boy I hugged of my own accord.

We've become really close friends, the best these past days. W e were the same in how we didn't let the circumstances get us down, we just tried to cheer it up while wanting the problem solved fast and words hurt the most. And apparently, besides Junko, I was the only one that got his jokes and laughed.

"Okay okay, stop laughing! Okay, why did a skeleton go to the party alone. He had nobody to go with him! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

Chorus:"U huh...heh heh I guess it's funny,"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" "I CAN'T _BREATHE_ FINN!"

He taught me how to use his crossbow that was detachable from his skimmer.

"Now hand held is easy, you just pull the trigger but here, hop on, you have to _lean_ in close to the optical lens," His upper body weight was on my back, pressing me further on to the body of the skimmer. He guided my hand through a hole to access the trigger.

"Now press tightly," The arrow hit the terrible drawing of the Dark Ace.

* * *

Stork and I have gotten closer too. I'd tease his paranoia and he'd tease me back.

"And the mind worms crawl around your brain inside you skull!" he said in his "ooh" voice.

"Ah haha!" I laughed as he chased. Man he can run! I guess you have to if natural disasters were a common occurrence in Merbia.

I would train with Aerrow and Piper in the hanger or in the air, Piper blasting me from her heliscooter while I fought Aerrow. If I wasn't doing that, Tai chi or Crystal Combos with Piper, we were in her dark room nurturing crystals together.

I learned how to nurture a raw crystal using an energy blower, a small flame thrower, to reshape the crystal burning off some of its energy so the output could be controlled. She also taught me how to test crystals for their abilities and composition for precise categorizing.

Piper:"It's official." She announced when we went into the bow.

Finn:"What is?"

Piper:"Starlight's a Crystal Mage."

Aerrow:"Really?" he asked excitedly.

"How do you figure?" I asked.

I was best at hand to hand combat, I knew how to use loose crystals, the in's and out's of Crystal Combos, how to nurture raw crystals and hone energy...I was a Crystal Mage.

Piper:"It's not official official until you're evaluated by the Sky Knight council in Atmosia but I wouldn't be surprised if you were registered right then and there,"

Aerrow:"Are you disappointed?"

"I did come to become a Sky Knight but I'd have the skills regardless, if and when I'm declared a Crystal Mage."

Finn hung himself on me. "That's my girl,"

Piper:"There was never a Sky Knight skilled in the crystal field or a Crystal Mage who became a Sky Knight but there's always a first!"

Aerrow:"Only one way to find out. Stork, set course for Atmosia!"

Stork:"Uh shouldn't we be looking for ,oh I don't know, Talons?!"

Aerrow:"Rel;ax we have time, and we can restock our supplies," Stork gave in and made a sharp U turn.

I was excited that we were going to Atmosia. It meant that I was going to be in this world permanently and that I did have control, over my life. Having control and the peace it gave me was a great feeling. This was one of my proudest moments.

Stork mentioned the Talons. I didn't forget them of course, now I didn't desire for them to appear, I understood now that its best they didn't wreak havoc so often. But it also reminded me that I was blind._ Door, crystal, door_...Which came first? It's been so long, trying to think back to what I did see gave me a migraine. It also caused me to remember that world, how I was treated. I hardly thought of it anymore. I've found my home. You _can_ choose your family.

According to the calender of "Atmos's dashing darevils' I've been here for almost three weeks._ It feels like longer_...For a split second I wondered if I was missed on earth but changed my train of thought. These guys are more family to me than they ever were. _They_ know what love really is.

I went to the kitchen to get the oatmeal cooking. I planned on making it a treat for everyone by topping it with baked apple slices and cinnamon. Everybody was huddled whispering furiously.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" I laughed. They all turned with massive grins, even Stork with a hint of creepy.

Finn:" I wanna tell her,"

Piper:"No, I do!"

Junko:"Me too!"

Aerrow:"I'll tell her, I trained her," He said as-a-matter-of-factually.

"So did I!" they chorused. Junko was teaching me the names of his scrap metal collection but they were too weird for me to successfully remember. Was. Stork just lectured me on his logic when constructing his Nightcrawler repellant. When he used it on me, I almost did tell him it wouldn't but I knew they'd figure it out.

"You guys whatever it is you want to tell me, ultimately I'm going to know right?" They all shared a quick look. Aerrow stepped forward with a metal arrow head like thing on his out stretched hand. I took it and the wings popped out from the sides.

"You've earned it. Welcome to the team, officially."

Piper:"Finn just had to say it before today,"

Finn:"Hey, it's official _now_,"

Stork:"I made it in my blacksmith shop,"

"But you already have a crystal mage,"

Aerrow:"So what? Nobody said they're couldn't be two in a squadron,"

Piper:"We're gonna have lots of fun!"

Finn:"Even if they did, rules were meant to be broken," Finn was a real bad boy... I laughed.

"Yes!" I threw myself to Aerrow to hug him then Stork form making the emblem for me and crushed everyone else together.

Finn:"Now come on, Junko and I want to show you what we've been working on,"

We all ran to the hanger, I wasn't sure why everyone was here too but I thought a greater audience was good for their hard work. There was a clump covered by a tarp , dark blue, my color.

Finn and Junko pulled it off and "Ta-da!"

"A skimmer!" I shrieked. I ran and hopped on. I hugged it with my arms and legs.

"Oh my god!" I pulled up the clutches to pop out the wings.

"Oh my GOD!"

Junko:"Who's god?" I laughed, insanely happy, flipping across the wings to the other side to hug Finn and Junko simultaneously.

"Thank you so much!" I kissed them both on the cheek. I blushed when it caught up with me. The high wasn't enough to numb the blush I was feeling. _No wonder we stopped at Saharr!_ Aerrow stepped forward again.

"May I?" I gave the storm hawk a kiss before I handed it to him and turned so he could pin it to my back.

He placed his right hand on his heart and I followed suit. The wind gusted in.

"I solemnly swear to fight against any threat to Atmos for the sake of love, our homes and life. And to be loyal to the Storm Hawks forever." I added. I saluted Aerrow and he to me. I do believe you can choose your family.

**AN:I don't know if you felt it but this was 2,456 words long.**


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